News

19 May SPJ Regional Contest Winners Announced

Thank you to everyone who submitted work into the 2020 SPJ Region 10 Excellence in Journalism Contest! Winners are listed below. You can also find a more easily navigable list here. Audio: Series LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION First Place "Timber Wars" Podcast Aaron Scott, Peter Frick-Wright, Robbie Carver Oregon Public Broadcasting Second...

16 May Know an exceptional journalist? Nominate them for our special chapter awards!

The Western Washington Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists is asking members of the journalism community to nominate outstanding journalists in our area for six special chapter awards: Journalist of the Year New Journalist of the Year June Anderson Almquist Lifetime Achievement Award Susan Hutchison Bosch Award for Perseverance...

09 May Apply for our SPJ Western Washington 2021 student journalism scholarships

The Western Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awards annual scholarships and grants to journalism students from Bellingham to Vancouver. The deadline for all scholarship and grant applications is June 15. All materials should be emailed as attachments to spjwascholarships@gmail.com with an appropriate subject...

24 Apr Run for the SPJ Western Washington Pro Chapter Board

Update: We've extended our deadline to June 6, at midnight.  The Society of Professional Journalists Western Washington Pro Chapter is again accepting applications for our board of directors. We have several positions opening up this summer, and board members are elected for two-year terms. Board members are...

16 Apr Results of the SPJ State of Journalism and Mental Health in Washington State Survey

Board members of the SPJ Western Washington Pro Chapter were concerned. The year 2020 was a tumultuous time for journalists not only in our state, but across the country — as both the coronavirus pandemic and demonstrations took hold in our communities. Our goal was to gain insight into the mental health of journalists in our state and pinpoint areas in which we could provide assistance. What we learned was concerning: A majority of the journalists who took our survey said mental wellness was more of a struggle now than before the pandemic, that they never use mental health services, and that a myriad of barriers contributes to this. The survey was open to any Washington state journalist, from March 17 to April 11, 2021. We promoted the survey through our social media channels (Facebook, Twitter), and reached out to journalists in our state both directly and through their news organizations. This report includes data from 148 reporters, photographers, editors, web producers, newsroom executives, and others.

Some results from the survey gave us a clear indication that journalists in Washington state have been experiencing a heightened level of work-related stress in the past year, and that has caused higher incidences of anxiety and depression throughout many of the roles in our industry.

See the full results of SPJ Western Washington's mental health survey here.

21 Mar Upcoming event covers mental health and journalism

SPJ Western Washington Pro Chapter presents a discussion on the the implications of the non-stop news cycle of 2020, our financially unstable field, and the ways journalists have learned to cope while navigating our own safety within high-stress environments. The event will take place virtually on...

17 Mar New survey launched to gain insight on mental health of journalists in Washington state

This past year has been incredibly difficult for many people, including journalists in Washington state. We at the Society of Professional Journalists Western Washington Chapter recognize the mental health and wellness toll the Covid-19 pandemic and civil unrest in our cities may have taken on...

05 Mar SPJ Western Washington calls on state officials to include journalists in vaccine schedule

Today, the board of SPJ Western Washington Pro Chapter — along with our colleagues representing several other journalism organizations — have sent a letter to the Washington State Department of Health arguing that frontline journalists should be included in Phase 1B of the vaccine schedule. Over...