Three members of the Bellevue Reporter have received awards for news and photo work at the annual Better Newspapers Competition held in conjunction with the Washington Newspaper Publishers conference in Yakima on October 1-4.
The three took home a total of four awards.
The Bellevue awards were part of 184 garnered by Sound Publishing newspapers. Sound has 26 newspapers that are members of the WNPA.
In Best Comprenhensive Coverage, Carrie Wood placed second for her articles on mega homes in Bellevue.
Judges commented that “this reporter has locked onto a govermental issue and translated it into a neighborhood issue that is meaningful to local residents. How much is too big in Bellevue? The stories examine the invasion of group care homes and adult day cares into single-family home neighborhoods, and alert the rest of us that this change in our lives may come soon to a block near you.”
Wood also took second place in Best Story on the Arts for an article headlined, “Painting through the pain,” which told the story of Rebecca Hudson, a painter who suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
Judges said: “Nicely done. It’s not all about exhibits and critical acclaim. Here we find the true soul of art.”
Wood has gone on to be editor of the Kirkland Reporter.
Sportswriter Joel Willits was named a finalist for Sportswriter of the Year for a collection of several articles. One of them, “Little League’s Big Girl” drew the following comment from a judge: “Right from the lead, Willits draws readers into the lives of his stories’ subjects. “Little League’s Big Girl” is an excellent bit of feature writing in any category.”
Photographer Fumiko Yarita scored a second place in Best General News Photo, Color for her picture of Seahawks’ quarterback Matt Hasselback chatting with St. Madeleine Sophie School’s teacher Karen Pasqualetto after he autographed her head. The story dealt with Pasqualetto’s battle with cancer.
Yarita also won photo awards for other Reporter newspapers.
She placed first in Best Portrait Photo, Color for a picture in the Bothell Reporter. She also placed second in Best Sports Photo – Non Action, Color and third in Best Photo Essay/Picture Page, Color. Both were for for the Renton Reporter.
