By Ruth Bayang
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
From top left: Stacy Nguyen, Kai Curry, Tiffany Ran, Assunta Ng, Carolyn Bick, Zachariah Bryan, Becky Chan, and Vivian Nguyen
The Northwest Asian Weekly (NWAW) won 11 awards at the annual Washington Newspaper Publishers Association (WNPA) 2019 Better Newspaper Contest, including four first place wins—a record in NWAW history. WNPA representatives announced the winners during the annual convention awards dinner in Olympia on Oct. 11.
Stacy Nguyen, Kai Curry, Tiffany Ran, and Assunta Ng won first place in the Art Reviews, Election Story, Business News Story, and General Interest Column or Blog categories, respectively.
On Curry’s story about Joe Nguyen running for state Senate, the judges called it, “An engaging candidate profile that successfully touches on larger themes of racial representation and immigration.”
Curry also won second place in the Art Reviews category.
“Our table screamed and cheered whenever one of our writers won and his or her name flashed on the screen,” said Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly.
She said competition was stiff and it just goes to show how passionate the staff writers are.
“They pour their heart and soul into the stories they write, in the spirit of giving back to the community,” said Ng.
NWAW competed against 57 other newspapers and more than 1,100 entries.
Nguyen took home two additional awards: third place for Front Page Design and third place for Humorous Column or Blog.
The other winners were:
Carolyn Bick, second place, Education Story for her article on Sierra Summit school;
Zachariah Bryan, third place, News Story, Long for his story on good-paying jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree;
Becky Chan, third place, Comprehensive Coverage, Single Writer for her in-depth coverage of the release of infamous arsonist Martin Pang;
Vivian Nguyen, third place, Business News Story for her story on 85°C Bakery Café opening in the International District.
The annual contest is a chance for non-daily papers across Washington state to compete in a variety of writing, photography, editorial content, advertising, and design categories. The contest covered works published between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019. NWAW competed against other newspapers with circulations between 5,001 and 12,500.
WNPA represents about 100 community newspapers in Washington state. It is the successor to the Washington Press Association, which was founded in 1887 by newspapers in Dayton, Ellensburg, Seattle, Tacoma, Yakima, and Walla Walla.
Ruth can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.