The Columbian staff won two honors in this year’s C.B. Blethen Memorial Awards, honoring the best in Pacific Northwest journalism.
Health care reporter Marissa Harshman took first place in enterprise reporting for newspapers with circulation of less than 50,000 for her story package on the consequences suffered by former patients of a Vancouver pain clinic.
Former education reporter Jacques Von Lunen took second place in the same category for his package explaining the state’s basic education funding process and the problems the system faces.
The awards were presented Thursday in Portland at the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association. The are given in memory of the man who published The Seattle Times from 1915 to 1941.