Columbian honored in journalism contest

Current and former journalists from The Columbian and the Camas-Washougal Post-Record were honored Thursday evening as winners in the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2017 Northwest Excellence in Journalism competition.

The contest was open to news organizations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska and sponsored by the Western Washington Pro chapter and the Oregon Territory chapter of SPJ. Entries were judged by SPJ chapters in Chicago and Connecticut.

The awards were presented at a gathering at Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub in downtown Portland.

In the large news organizations category, Columbian winners are Micah Rice, winner, best sports feature story, “Hole in one from Hudson”; Amanda Cowan, winner, sports feature photography; Greg Jayne, winner, editorial and commentary; Alisha Jucevic, runner-up, best photo portfolio; Meg Wochnick, runner-up, best sports feature story, “Unbroken”; Amy Libby, runner-up, page design; and Scott Hewitt, runner-up, arts and entertainment writing.

Former Columbian staff members and their awards: Marissa Harshman, winner, best business reporting, “Finding care can be a pain”; Mariel Abbene, winner, graphics and illustrations; Ariane Kunze, runner-up, feature photography, and runner-up, sports video reporting, “One-legged baseball player takes challenges in stride.”

In the small news organizations category, Kelly Moyer of the Camas-Washougal Post-Record was named runner-up in spot news reporting for “Camas paper mill to cut hundreds of jobs.”