The Keizertimes was honored with 11 awards including three first place prizes at the annual Better Newspaper Contest held at the annual Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association convention last week.
Managing editor Eric A. Howald won a first place award for best local column (Where are the adults? about covering student protests in the wake of a mass shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fl.).
Former Associate News Editor Derek Wiley won first place for best sports photo (Celtics knocked out in first round of 6A state playoffs).
Matt Rawlings, who succeeded Wiley, won first place for best spot news coverage (Life saver, the story of a Keizer man who saved a woman whose car had left the road and landed in an orchard).
The Keizertimes won second place awards for its Salem-Keizer High School Football Preview (best special section). Casey Chaffin won second place in best feature story, personality, for Making it work as a team, her profile of Peggy and Jerry Moore, a Keizer couple who were instrumental in in taking the Rickman Community Garden to the next level.
Third place awards were won for: coverage of business issues, education coverage, sports story and writing, all won by Howald. Matt Rawlings took third place for educational coverage. Candace Johnson was honored for her graphics work on a foster care story. The staff of the paper was honored for their photo essay of the 2018 KeizerFEST in review.