EVERETT — The Daily Herald has won a national Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists for its coverage of the Marysville Pilchuck High School shootings.
The Oct. 24 shootings claimed the lives of five students at the school, including the shooter.
“I am very proud of how our team pulled together day after day, to provide our community accurate, detailed and compassionate accounts of the Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting,” said Josh O’Connor, publisher of The Herald.
“Their work brought context and insights to the tragedy, which gave our community what it needed at a time of crisis. It’s an honor to work with such a dedicated team of professional journalists that are very deserving of this recognition,” O’Connor said.
The Sigma Delta Chi award is given to newspapers, magazines, broadcast and internet news services. Only one award is given per category.
The Herald’s coverage won for deadline reporting by daily papers with circulations of up to 50,000.
In recognizing the Herald, judges wrote: “The Daily Herald provided a shocked community with the only reliable breaking news about a school shooting, covering the story in print and online from a variety of angles, thoroughly and with compassion. By reporting only confirmed information amidst a burst of social media rumors, the Herald reflected the high standards of professional journalism.”
The Herald is one of three Washington newspapers to receive one of the awards this year.
The SPJ also honored Ann McCreary and Marcy Stamper, writers for the Methow Valley News in Twisp, for their July 23 story, “Firestorm rips through valley.”
The News won in the deadline reporting category for nondaily newspapers. During the wildfires, the paper’s staff labored to produce news when communication in the valley was sporadic at best and the entire town was threatened.
“They were both proactive and especially innovative in their reporting because we didn’t have any communication in the valley at the time,” said News publisher Don Nelson. “Also, the community was counting on us.”
The staff of the Pacific Northwest Inlander, based in Spokane, won the award for Public Service Journalism for nondaily publications for its “State of Mind” series of stories on mental illness.
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