At Saturday night’s Society of Professional Journalists awards banquet at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Seattle Weekly dominated the competition among alternative weeklies in five states with 19 awards and among non-daily newspapers in Western Washington state with 34 awards.

Seattle Weekly also won the sweepstakes award among Western Washington non-dailies for winning the most honors. In all, the paper won 54 SPJ awards for articles published in 2004.

Among alt-weeklies in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, the next-biggest winner was Portland’s Willamette Week with 11.

Seattle Weekly employee winners of first-place awards were Nina Shapiro (4), Karen Steichen (3), Tim Appelo (2), Knute Berger (2), Rick Anderson (1), George Howland Jr. (1), Chuck Taylor (1), and Jay Vidheecharoen (1). As a freelancer, former arts editor Mark Fefer also won a first-place award. And the paper’s staff was awarded a first place in the alt-weeklies competition for 2004’s Best of Seattle issue.

Philip Dawdy’s series of stories about mental health were responsible for eight awards for reporting, photography, and design.

CONTACTS:
Chuck Taylor, Managing Editor
Seattle Weekly
ctaylor@seattleweekly.com
206-476-4373

Jessica Bellucci, Public Relations Director
The Village Voice/Village Voice Media
jbellucci@villagevoice.com
212-475-3300 x 15052