Crosscut writers won four awards in the regional Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) contest, including two first-place awards. The 2011 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest recognized the best work by online, broadcast, and print journalists in a five-state region.
Knute Berger received first place in the online Arts/entertainment/lifestyle category for an article about Paul Allen and his 2011 book, Idea Man. The article was headlined, "Best of 2011: Allen takes a close look at himself and others."
Harris Meyer won first place in online business reporting for a report, "Will Swedish limit choices for women and the dying under Providence deal?", which looks at health care questions created by having secular Swedish Health Services become part of the religious-based Providence Health & Services.
Pete Jackson received a second place in online commentary for "Cantwell's cheaper shoes are pinching," and Laura Kaufman received third-place recognition in the special report/enterprise category for "Struggling newsstand a last bastion of real Pike Place character."
The full list of winners in all categories is here.
Even with highly capable writers like those you read on Crosscut every day, high quality journalism remains expensive and challenging to produce. If anything, focusing on the critical issues in government and society has become more difficult amid changes in technology, the economy, and society.
As the holiday weekend begins, I hope you might consider helping Crosscut in its mission as a nonprofit of providing in-depth, thoughtful coverage and commentary for Seattle, King County, Washington, and the Pacific Northwest.
You can help shape and further improve our work by taking five minutes to answer our third annual readership survey. The previous surveys have given us important information about everything from your interests in coverage (the draw for us on the news side) to your leisure activities. As Crosscut moves forward, good data about readership will be critical.
Please help shape Crosscut's future by taking a few moments to complete our annual reader's survey. Your input is greatly appreciated. You can find the survey here. When you take the survey, you can also receive a chance to win gift certificates for bookstores, tickets to the Seattle International Film Festival, admission to the Bellevue Arts Museum, and more.
Crosscut has enjoyed remarkable success in the five years since it launched. But to keep growing and improving we also need more members who are willing to support better news coverage. If you would like to donate and become a member of Crosscut Public Media, please check out this page. We'd love to have you join our writers in improving coverage of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
