Saylor Walters pulls back on the reins as her horse gallops through the finish line of the pole-racing event during the Red Barn Arena Award Series in Long Beach. This photo was a top award winner.

The Chinook Observer has again been recognized with the top prize for General Excellence in the annual Washington Newspaper Publishers Association awards.

Press contest judge’s remarks

Press contest judge’s remarks

The Chinook Observer offers a very well-rounded read for local residents and is very deserving of the first-place award. From the overall quality of the writing handled by a very small group of reporters and good headlines (the red ink was a nice touch on the inferno headline) to the excellent photography in news, entertainment and sports, the paper was a standout among this year’s entries. Well done.

General Excellence is the highest honor presented to Washington newspapers, representing the best in the industry. This is the Observer’s fifth first-place win in the past seven years.

Ocean Park resident Luke Whittaker was named WNPA’s statewide Photographer of the Year at the press association’s annual convention Oct. 5 in Olympia. Whittaker also won an array of other awards for photography and reporting, including a special “clean sweep” prize for entirely dominating the category of photo essays. “Each image has vision and purpose. His work is well cropped and technically strong. Top notch photojournalism,” a contest judge commented.

Observer contributor Patrick Webb of Long Beach was recognized as one of the year’s top three sports writers in the newspaper’s peer group. One of Webb’s sports stories was recognized as best of the year — tinyurl.com/Webb-track.

Editor Matt Winters of Ilwaco was tapped to be WNPA’s top vice president and is slated to become association president next year. In this year’s press contest, the Observer’s well-read opinion pages that Winters produces won first place and one of his editorials — about Upper Columbia salmon restoration — took second.

The newspaper’s other wins:

• Government news: A first place for Jeff Clemens of Raymond for reporting on the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office (tinyurl.com/Pacific-response-times). Convention speaker Tom Hallman — the Oregonian’s recently retired Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and a long-time Observer subscriber — made special mention of Clemens’ dedicated coverage of this year’s troubles at the Port of Peninsula. Brandon Cline, the Observer’s Klipsan-based staff reporter, took a third place in the government news category for a report about the possibility of launching passenger ferry service on Willapa Bay (tinyurl.com/Willapa-ferry).

• Breaking news: Whittaker and Winters won first prize for their collaborative reporting on this year’s historic Ilwaco Landing fire (tinyurl.com/Ilwaco-Landing-inferno). Whittaker’s main photo of the fire response won for best breaking news photo and his photo essay about the fire won second place. “This reporting team captured the drama in photos and added local historical context along with the kind of writing you can only produce by being at the scene. Well done,” a contest judge remarked.

• Comprehensive reporting: Observer columnist Cate Gable of Nahcotta, Cline and Whittaker took second place for their follow-up coverage of the Ilwaco port fire.

• General news: Webb’s poignant article about Rick Nelson, editor of the Wahkiakum County Eagle, was this year’s top news story (tinyurl.com/Beloved-newsman-Nelson). Nelson returned home to die in Cathlamet after reaching the end of the road after years of cancer treatments.

• Feature stories: Whittaker won first place for a feature about chum salmon fishing (tinyurl.com/Chum-legends). Webb won four feature-writing awards about local people coming together to help find a lost dog (tinyurl.com/Doggone-miracle); the Long Beach Grange (tinyurl.com/Long-Beach-Grange-revived); Abigail Mack’s caving adventures (tinyurl.com/Ilwaco-caver); and a star student athlete (tinyurl.com/Willapa-pole-vaulter).

• Tourism supplement: The Discovery Coast Visitor’s Guide, produced by the Observer’s Hattie Marvin and production supervisor John Bruijn with photos by Whittaker, won second prize.

• Business news: Whittaker won first place for his story about restoring a cranberry farm (tinyurl.com/CranBear-restored).

• Environmental reporting: Whittaker took second place for his article about local men fighting the green crab invasion (tinyurl.com/top-crab-trappers).

• Photos: Perhaps Whittaker’s most memorable photo of the year was the jaw-dropping breaking news photo of firefighters battling the Ilwaco Landing fire: tinyurl.com/Historic-Ilwaco-inferno.

Whittaker won first, second and third place for photo essays, including the top prize for Life in Pacific County: tinyurl.com/Life-in-Pacific-County. His image of U.S. Coast Guard motor lifeboat and helicopter crews preparing for Buoy 10 fishing season (tinyurl.com/Coast-Guard-braces) was named the best all-around news photo. And Born to Barrel Race, capturing Saylor Walters’ joy on horseback, was the best feature photo of the year: tinyurl.com/Peninsula-barrel-racer. He also won in the portrait photo category.

The Observer won 27 awards altogether this year. In recent years the newspaper has racked up a dozen General Excellence honors.