On Thursday, May 19, 2022, the Society of Professional Journalists honored Nicholas Johnson of The B-Town Blog for Investigative Reporting in the Writing/Small newsrooms category in its 2021 Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest.
The SPJ award was for Investigative Reporting in “a single in-depth article that investigates a problem as it relates to a single topic, issue, person or group of people.” Johnson’s story came in second.
The topic of Johnson’s in-depth article published on Sept. 30, 2021 was: “As candidates for Burien City Council canvassed and campaigned in late July ahead of the Aug. 3 primary election, false claims about enhanced services facilities, or ESFs, began to circulate online” and included fact-checking – and correcting – misinformation that was sent out and shared by an anonymous group called “Burien United” and others during the 2021 primary elections.
The competition is one of the largest of its kind in the nation, and honors journalists across SPJ Region 10, which covers five states – Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
Johnson worked for South King Media over most of the last year (as well as in 2009-11), writing around 70 articles focusing mostly on local politics, elections and more. He now works as Copy Editor/Page Designer for the Everett Herald.
Johnson grew up in Boulevard Park, graduated from Highline High School and studied journalism at Western Washington University. Follow his current and future work on Twitter here: @MrNickJohnson
Congrats to Johnson for winning this award!
Cheers to all of this year’s @spjwash award winners! Stoked to see this piece recognized for investigative reporting alongside all the phenomenal journalism coming out of newsrooms big and small across this state. https://t.co/nJTlucJYBl
— persNICKety (@MrNickJohnson) May 20, 2022
