Columbia Gorge News takes state, national awards

Associate Editor Nathan Wilson took home most of the awards: A first in Best Coverage of Business or Economic Issue and a second in Best Enterprise Reporting for his Government Camp-Cooper Spur land exchange series; a first in Best Spot Coverage a story for “Operational updates, resources and the team coordinating Burdoin Fire response;” a second in Best Enterprise Reporting for “Ivan Howtopat, Sheriff Songer and the Klickitat County Jail post-settlement;” a third in Best Government Coverage for the story “Farmers Irrigation District explains rate increases;” and a first in Best Writing, which looked at three submitted pieces.

Reporter Sean Avery, who joined Columbia Gorge News last September, took third in Best Feature Personality for his story “Ashes to Art: How Lloyd DeKay compromises with fire.” Sports Reporter Zach Thummel, who also joined the team at the same time, secured a second in Best Sports Photo for capturing the Hood River Valley High girls soccer team celebrating a win against Milwaukee and making state playoffs.

Columbia Gorge News also took second place for our special publication Gorge Giving.

National contest wins

Columbia Gorge News additionally received five awards from the national Better Newspaper Contest, including a first-place General Excellence award. Wilson took the other four awards.

“I am extremely proud to see this award as a stamp of approval from industry leaders,” said Owner and Publisher Chelsea Marr. “It shows our journalistic standards are best in our newspaper size category and is judged over multiple months showcasing our weekly news writing and community coverage, our overall advertising, design and print quality. To win first place in a national award with newspapers from across the country is a huge morale boost for our staff. And congratulations to associate editor, Nate Wilson, for his many awards for his writing.”

Wilson’s national awards: A first for Best Localized National Story with “Federal job cuts hit BPA, OSU experiment station;” first for Best Business Story Series on the Government Camp-Cooper land exchange; second for Best Enterprise Story for “Ivan Howtopat, Sheriff Songer and the Klickitat County Jail post-settlement;” and another first for Best Health Story Series (“Vulnerable people and rural hospitals”).

“Nate Wilson is a rockstar,” said Managing Editor Trisha Walker. “He is a solid investigative reporter, and he has really elevated the scope of our coverage since coming on board in 2024 as a summer intern.

“It’s also great to see Sean Avery and Zach Thummel take home awards in their first year with us,” Walker added. “Both are versatile reporters.”