Key Peninsula News Goes to State, Brings Home 20 Awards

Key Peninsula News staff and contributors won 20 awards Oct. 3 for their reporting, opinion, and feature writing in the statewide 2026 Better Newspaper Contest administered by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

Now in its 139th year, the WNPA represents 70 community and regional newspapers, from small nonprofits to The Seattle Times, the largest paper in Washington. It also recognizes outstanding newspaper work published over the preceding year in an annual contest adjudicated by outside industry peers.

Forty-seven newspapers across the state submitted 1,012 entries for the 2026 contest. KP News competed against publications in markets with a circulation of 7,501 or more. The competition is judged by a different state news organization each year. This year, it was the Texas Press Association.

KP News took home some of the top awards.

Eddie Macsalka won second place for Sports Writer of the Year, following up his first-place win last year. That was in addition to a first-place finish for his Lifestyle Feature story “For Scare Actors in the Forest, Fear Sets the Stage for Halloween” (October 2025). The judges called it “a descriptive and engaging story of not your regular run-of-the-mill scare venue. It sounds terrifyingly wonderful.”

Associate Editor Ted Olinger earned third place for Feature Writer of the Year. He also won second place in Personality Profiles for “Local Animal Rescuer Back to Ukraine for Eighth Mission” (November 2025), and second and third place for his reporting on local tragedies (“Double Murder on Herron Island,” January 2026, and “Vaughn Murder-Suicide Stuns Community,” February 2026). He took third place as well in Education Stories for “Emissaries, Ninjas and Zookeepers: Fourth Grade at Vaughn” (March 2026).

Executive Editor Lisa Bryan won second and third place in Editorial Writing for “No Kings Day in Key Center” (July 2025) and “News from the Hellfire Club” (December 2025).

About her work, the judges wrote: “Very nice to see people come together to protect the voices of everyone, regardless of personal opinions. Great history followed up by proudly defending your local journalists.”

Six KP News columnists swept two categories.

In General Interest, Camri Clawson took third place for her column Class Notes; Jonathan Bill earned second for Magical History Tour; and Janice Bryant won first place for Local Color.

About Bryant, the judges wrote: “This woman can write. I’d read her grocery lists. Makes me want to subscribe.” For Bill, they wrote: “Love the historical perspective delivered in a readable, digestible, and entertaining prose.” And on Clawson: “This young lady has a bright future as a writer ahead of her. Her writing is mature beyond her years.”

In the Topical category, Chris Rurik earned third place for Wild Peninsula; Kamryn Everett took second for her KP Gardens series (both won last year as well in opposite placements); and the estimable Katrina Herringbottom received first place for her acerbic recipes in KP Cooks.

Rurik also won first place in Short News Stories for “Students Learn About Life: Release Salmon Fry Into Vaughn Creek” (May 2025) and third place in Environmental Stories for “By Hand and By Robot, An Eelgrass Meadow Recovers” (September 2025). Anna Brones earned second place in the same category for “All In: A Year of Daily Swims for Endangered Orcas” (February 2026).

In her final contributions last year, former KP News correspondent Sara Thompson won first place for her Business Feature “Adam’s Mushrooms Has a Farm” (December 2025) and second place for “Local Healthcare Providers Plan for Uncertain, Expensive Future” (August 2025).

KP News received 22 awards for its 2024 work, 25 in 2023, 14 in 2022, 17 in 2021, 14 in 2020, eight in 2019, and three in its first entry to the contest in 2018.