1999 Winners C.B. Blethen Memorial Awards
Distinguished Deadline Reporting
Under 50,000 circulation
1st place - Staff, Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon, WA, "Anacortes
refinery explosion."
2nd place - Brodie Farquhar, Terry McConn, Jose Miguel Romero, Walla Walla
Union-Bulletin, Walla Walla, WA, "Pipeline blast knocks out natural gas."
Distinguished Deadline Reporting
Over 50,000 circulation
1st place - Staff, The Oregonian, Portland, OR, "Thurston High School
shooting."
2nd place - Staff, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle, WA, "Shooting
triggers bus plunge off Aurora Bridge."
Distinguished Feature Writing
Under 50,000 circulation
1st place - Tanya Kerstiens, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, WA, "Fight
for Life."
2nd place - Warren Cornwall, Post Register, Idaho Falls, ID, "The Color of
Love."
Distinguished Feature Writing
Over 50,000 circulation
1st place - Erin Hoover Barnett, The Oregonian, Portland, OR, "Brian's
Journey."
2nd place - Brian Willoughby, The Columbian, Vancouver, WA, "True Believers."
Distinguished Enterprise Reporting
Under 50,000 circulation
1st place - Tom Roeder, The Chronicle, Centralia, WA, "Plague of Meth."
2nd place - Mike Lee, Tri-City Herald, Tri-Cities, WA, "A River Wasted."
Distinguished Enterprise Reporting
Over 50,000 circulation
1st place - Richard Read, The Oregonian, Portland, OR, "The French Fry
Connection."
2nd place - Staff, The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, UT, "Modern-day
Polygamy."
Distinguished Investigative Reporting
Under 50,000 circulation
1st place - Carol Bradley, Great Falls Tribune, Great Falls, MT, "Lots of
Donors, Few Results."
2nd place - Chris Mulick, Tri-City Herald, Tri-Cities, WA, "WPPSS accused of
ignoring Freon leaks."
Distinguished Investigative Reporting
Over 50,000 circulation
1st place - Deborah Nelson, Jim Simon, Eric Nalder and Danny Westneat, The
Seattle Times, Seattle, WA, "Trading away the West."
2nd place - Julie Sullivan, Karen Dorn Steele and Kim Barker, The
Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA, "City of Second Chances."
Distinguished Coverage of Diversity
Under 50,000 circulation
1st place - Wendy Harris, Yakima Herald-Republic, Yakima, WA, "Farm-Worker
Housing."
2nd place - Staff, The Wenatchee World, Wenatchee, WA, "Stuck in Place:
Affirmative Inaction in NCW."
Distinguished Coverage of Diversity
Over 50,000 circulation
1st place - Staff, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA, "In it together."
2nd place - Staff, The Seattle Times, Seattle, WA.
Debby Lowman Consumer Affairs Award
All circulations
1st place - Jane Hadley, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle, WA, "Thieves
prey on mailboxes."
2nd place - Eric Sorensen, The Seattle Times, Seattle, WA, "Condo dwellers'
lament: When it rains, it pours in."