Four Crosscut writers won awards in the 2009 Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists. The awards, in SPJ's online news category, were presented Saturday (May 22) along with honors for the region's newspapers, magazines, and broadcast companies.
Crosscut's awards were for:
First place in business writing: Knute Berger for "Seven steps for saving Pioneer Square," a piece following news of Elliott Bay Book Company's moving from the neighborhood, with such sage advice as "Stop whining."
First place in commentary: Judy Lightfoot for "Gerald keeps his job," an account of the writer's nervewracking first meeting with a man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
Second place in commentary: Peter Jackson for "Drawing the line on Everett landmarks," a story about efforts to preserve the Collins Building, which once housed the North Coast Casket Company.
Third place in arts/entertainment/lifestyle writing: Travis Hay, for "Discovering Nirvana's lost treasures," which used a new CD release as an occasion to lament his missed opportunity to see the legendary band in concert many years ago.
Berger also won for columns he had written for Seattle Magazine, and Hay won for an item on his blog, Ear Candy.
The full list of winners is posted on SPJ's Web site.
