Idaho’s only alternative newspaper, the independently-owned
Boise Weekly, staggered home with some awards loot at the
Idaho Press Club’s annual awards ceremony.

Here’s the rundown of how we fared in the Weekly
category:

BW news editor Deanna Darr picked up an armload of
plaques. Among her winnings:

First Place, Serious Feature for “Who Holds the Keys,” her
report about the private prison industry’s influence in Idaho.

Darr also picked up first place in the Light Feature category
for “Garden City Rising,” her story about Boise’s red-headed
stepchild of a sister city. We have stopped counting the
follow-on versions of this story.

Darr nipped a second place for Environment Reporting for
her story, “Of Cattle and Fire” about, well, things that go moo
and how Western fire policies and grazing policies often
collide.

Darr also picked up a second place in the Education
Reporting category for “Held back”

BW editor Shea Andersen picked up a first place in the
political reporting category for his story about the Idaho
Republican Party’s infighting. The story, “The Primary
Problem,” might as well be printed this week.

Andersen also nabbed second place in the
Watchdog/Investigative Reporting category for “Pizza For a
DUI,” his story that pulled back the curtain on a Boise Police
Department policy that rewards DUI arrest records with pizza
dinners.

Two of BW‘s contributors did us proud. Nathaniel Hoffman,
our Legislative correspondent, also caught judges’ eyes,
garnering a second place in the Serious Feature category for
“In The Shadows,” his story about Boise sex offenders trying
to get past the stigma of their crimes and move on with life.

BW contributor Peter Wollheim helped us sew up the
Environment Reporting category with his first place win for “A
Fish Story This Big,” about the scary stuff that fish are
swimming in these days.

Time to light up those Cuban cigars that Andersen said he
had somewhere.
“The awards received by Idaho Press Club support our belief
and efforts to be the best newspaper in Idaho,” said Sally
Freeman, the owner and publisher of Boise Weekly.