The Madras Pioneer garnered four awards in the Society of Professional Journalists Nondaily Newspaper Contest, which were announced at theannual banquet May 21st in Portland.
The Pioneer competed against all other nondaily newspapers in Oregon and Southwest Washington with circulations of 8,000 or less.
General editor Susan Matheny won a first-place award in the Religion and Ethics category for her feature “Mission Impossible?” on the Madras Free Methodist’s mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico, to build a house in five days.
Sports editor Joe McHaney collected two second-place awards. In the SportsColumn category, he won with the entries “Rylee Swings Away,” “Human Error,”and “Newborn.” In the Sports Photo category, McHaney won for his photo “Walk-Off Blast” of the Madras High School softball team celebrating its walk-off victory in the first round of the Class 5A state softball playoffs.
News editor Holly Gill won a third-place award in the News Feature category forher article “Chase, gunfire entangle rancher” about Tom Norton Jr. runningpoachers off his property.
The Polk County Itemizer-Observer received three awards from the Oregon and Southwest Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and its2010 Nondaily Journalism Contest.
Pete Strong took first place in the Best News Photography category for his photo covering the arrival of the casket of Sgt. Ian Tawney from Afghanistan at the Salem Airport.
Sam Scott won first place in the Best Sports News category for his story headlined “Boise State Bound” about Central High’s Grant Hedrick signinga national football letter of intent with the Broncos.
The I-O placed second in the General Excellence competition, finishing behind only the Clackamas Review. The I-O placed first in the General Excellence division last year. The Dallas-based newspaper submitted just five total entries, so receiving three awards was a bit unexpected.
The contest included newspapers, alternative publications, magazines and online mediums with circulations of less than 8,000.
