News

03 Jun Gala Award winners include Kathy Best, Anna King and Seattle Globalist

The SPJ Western Washington Pro Chapter is proud to announce this year’s Gala Award winners: Kathy Best, Anna King, Kate O’Connell Walters, Casey Jaywork, Ashley Stewart, The Seattle Globalist and Andrew Wahl.

These exemplary journalists are being recognized for their considerable contributions to the profession and to the public. They will be honored along with the winners of the 2015 Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest at the 2016 SPJ Awards Gala on Saturday, June 18, at the Hyatt Olive 8. (Get your tickets today – early bird tickets end June 13).

June Anderson Almquist Lifetime Achievement Award: Kathy Best is leaving the Seattle Times for The Missoulian, but her impact will remain. While she was at the Times, the paper won three Pulitzer Prizes. These awards are just the latest achievement in a lifetime devoted to telling and editing stories at the Quad-City Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Baltimore Sun and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Journalist of the Year: Anna King, the only dedicated rural and agricultural broadcast reporter in the northwest, captivated public radio audiences with stories in 2015 about a serious bird flu outbreak, a deadly police shooting of a Mexican laborer, wildfires and a dam explosion.

Innovation Award: To address the lack of diversity in media, The Seattle Globalist launched a series of Community Media Workshops — “Your City, Your Story, Your Voice” — that provide instruction in developing and pitching story ideas, reporting basics, and digital photography. “The Globalist model assumes that anyone can be a writer, and seeks to break down the barriers that often keep people, particularly members of less-privileged social groups, from getting the opportunity to report on issues that matter to them.”

Journalism Educator of the Year: Everett Community College Journalism and Media Communication instructor Andrew Wahl  has advised a team of award-winning student reporters and led efforts to help students transfer from EvCC to WSU’s Integrated Strategic Communication Program. He’s also built strong connections with local high schools, visiting their newsrooms to talk about journalism and college opportunities, and worked with local media outlets and community organizations to establish internship opportunities for EvCC students.

New Journalists of the Year: Kate O’Connell Walters of KUOW, Casey Jaywork of The Seattle Weekly and Ashley Stewart of the Puget Sound Business Journal are making an impact in their organizations and through their stories.

Congratulations to all!

Join us in honoring these journalists at the 2016 SPJ Awards Gala Saturday, June 18 at the Hyatt Olive 8 in downtown Seattle. Get your tickets here.