On Monday night, May 18, 2020, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) honored The B-Town Blog with a First-Place ‘General Excellence’ Award for small publications over a five state area for 2019!
Judges narrowed roughly 1,300 entries down to 250 winners, recognizing reporters, photographers, designers, editors and more throughout the region, which includes five states – Washington and Oregon, as well as Alaska, Idaho and Montana.
This is the third top prize the SPJ has awarded The B-Town Blog over its 12+ year history.
The contest is administered by volunteers from SPJ Western Washington and Oregon.
ABOUT THE SPJ
The Society of Professional Journalists Western Washington Chapter is dedicated to the promotion of high standards of journalism and fellowship among all professional journalists. This chapter works to serve Western Washington journalists from the Canadian border down to Vancouver, Washington, through programming, awards, scholarships, and education. We are considered part of SPJ, the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry through the daily work of its nearly 7,500 members; works to inspire and educate current and future journalists through professional development, and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press through its advocacy efforts.
“This venture is a real team effort,” Founder/Publisher Scott Schaefer said. “And for a year when we had a major server crash and had to basically re-start the website from scratch, this first place award is truly an honor for all involved.”
We’d like to tip our vintage journalist hat to the entire team involved with The B-Town Blog, who, along with Schaefer, include:
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- Theresa Schaefer, Sales Manager
- Jack Mayne, Senior Writer
- Michael Brunk, Design, Photography
- Shane Griffiths, Web Design, Coding
- Blake Messer, Marketing, Email Newsletter
- Elston Hill, Photography
- Dayna Mason, Columnist
- Dona Ozier, Sales
- Mark Neuman, Sales, Writer
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“Thank you for your commitment to outstanding work for local readers,” SPJ organizers said. “We’re thrilled to bring some positive news in the midst of such a difficult time, and look forward to a point when we can all celebrate in person.”
SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM
The B-Town (Burien) Blog is a truly local, multiple award-winning, independent, family-run ‘hyperlocal’ news website covering Burien since 2007, and provided free to Readers thanks to much-appreciated advertising support from our great local business community.
If you value our local coverage, please consider supporting us at a level that makes sense for you. We have partnered with PressPatron to make it easy for you to contribute on a monthly basis, or a simple one time donation (just click the red “Become a supporter” button below). Whatever amount or frequency you choose, it’s all good, and it will help us keep our pixels updating with the most current and relevant hyperlocal coverage of Burien news, politics, arts, business, crime, events and more.
The full list of winners is available here.
Nice work to the @btownblog for winning the first-place General Excellence award for small publications! https://t.co/tIYjal4Z8J
— spjwash (@SPJWash) May 19, 2020