Key Peninsula News Wins 22 Awards in Annual State Contest

Key Peninsula News staff and contributors won 22 awards for their reporting, opinions, features, and photos in the 2025 Better Newspaper Contest Oct. 4, administered by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

Now in its 139th year, WNPA recognizes outstanding newspaper work published over the previous 12 months at its annual convention, this year held in Wenatchee.

Forty-eight newspapers across the state submitted 1,429 entries for the 2025 contest. KP News competed against daily and weekly publications in markets with a circulation of 6,500 or more. The competition is judged by a different state news organization each year. This year, it was the Maryland, Delaware, and District of Columbia Press.

KP News took home some of the most prestigious awards available for the first time in its history.

Eddie Macsalka won first place for Sports Writer of the Year. That was in addition to first-place finishes for his sports personality profile, “ ‘Grace-ful’ Moves Help Seahawk Star Guard Reach the Next Level” (December 2024), and his general feature story “Preserving the Memories of Our Veterans, One Headstone at a Time” (November 2024). About the latter, the judges said, “Eddie Macsalka demonstrates sensitivity and depth in this report on (the) how and why.”

His government reporting in “Your Vote Counts – Pierce County is Making Sure” earned Macsalka second place with work the judges referred to as “A beautiful concept, well researched, well edited, and well written. A cut above.” Macsalka placed third for “There Are More than 50 Sasquatch on the KP, Podcast Host Says” (October 2024) in the News of the Weird category. “I sincerely hope she (the podcaster) is correct,” wrote one judge. “The hit TV show could be ‘Keeping up With Sasquatch.’ ”

Chris Rurik was named Feature Writer of the Year. “Beautiful writing,” wrote the judges. “The writer paints pictures in the reader’s mind.”

Macsalka took third place in the same category, repeating his win from last year.

KP News swept the general interest column category with Associate Editor Ted Olinger in first place for his continuing column “Another Last Word”; Dan Whitmarsh in second for “Writing By Faith”; and Carolyn Wiley in third place — her sixth award for “Devil’s Head Diary.”

Chris Rurik and Kamryn Everett (née Minch) earned second and third place, respectively, in the topical column category for “Wild Peninsula” and “KP Gardens.”

Rurik took third place for his environmental news reporting in “Solar Array to Be Built at Purdy Transfer Station in 2025” (December 2024).

Executive Editor Lisa Bryan won second place in editorials for “Take Pride and Take Heart” (December 2024). She and Olinger shared third place for “We Need to Talk” (August 2024), following the first assassination attempt against then-candidate Donald Trump.

Bryan won third place in the Personality Profile category for “The Legendary Life of Local Hero Fred Ramsdell” (March 2025).

Olinger also took third place for his animal feature story, “Local Animal Rescuer Tom Bates Will Return to Ukraine Again” (November 2024).

Sara Thompson had second-place wins for her business feature story, “Local Businesses Say They Hit the Wall on Permitting Process” (July 2024), and her education feature, “Forest Friends Preschool Set to Open in October on Local Church Land” (September 2024).

KP News photographer Tina McKail won first place for the photo essay “Out & About as Fall Colors Near the End” (December 2024). She earned second place for her sports action photo in Macsalka’s sports feature, “Finding His Lane: The Meteoric Rise of Jonah Bergerson” (February 2025). “Perfect framing,” the judges said.

Design Editor Heather Meier won first place in Sports Page Design for her layout of “Ex-Prep Stars React to Conference Realignment” (April 2024).