In an unpredictable sweep, three journalists at sister papers South Whidbey Record and the Whidbey News-Times earned the top individual honors in the Washington Newspapers Publishers Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.

In all, the newsroom staff of the two papers won 23 awards in the statewide contest involving more than 1,500 entries from 50 newspapers. In addition, the News-Times won an advertising award. The Record and News-Times staff competed against newspapers in the same or larger circulation categories.

Kira Erickson, a reporter at The Record, was named first-place Feature Writer of the Year for the second year in a row. The judge wrote that Erickson showcased “great masterful storytelling and excellent ledes.” She also won six awards for individual stories.

David Welton, a photojournalist for both papers, earned second place as Photographer of the Year. He won three other awards for individual photos.

Jessie Stensland, the editor of both papers, won third place as Newspaper Writer of the Year. She previously won first place as Newspaper Writer of the Year four times. She also won three other awards for individual stories and one for an editorial.

Reporter Luisa Loi won first place for stories in three important categories. She won in the General Feature Story, Long, for “Coupeville ferry run is among state’s most challenging,” which was about challenges of the Coupeville ferry route. She won in the Social Issue Story category for “Langley women protest solitary confinement.” She won in the Environmental Story category for “Family of three finds 1,000 bats in their new home.”

The judge wrote that Loi’s bat story was “visceral, creepy, informative (about bats, guano, insurance, repair costs and much more).”

In addition, Loi won second place in the News Story, Long category for “Last bats evicted from North Whidbey home.”

Reporter Sam Fletcher won three awards even though he had only worked a few months of the contest period. He won second place in the coveted News of the Weird category for “Sasquatch researcher calls Whidbey home.” He won third place in General Feature Story, Short for “Whidbey diver-turned-citizen scientist provides ongoing data.” He won third place in Personality Profile, Long for “Keeping the faith,” a story about a Navy chaplain.

Erickson won single story awards in several categories. She won second place awards in Animal Feature Story for “Whidbey bids farewell to Tokitae” and in Business News Story for “Clinton pizza business offers redemption.”

She won third place awards in Environmental Story for “Ghost ship ends eerie journey on Clinton beach,” in Health or Medical Story for “Enso House celebrates 20th anniversary,” in Crime and Courts Story for “DNA results identify bones as missing man” and in History Feature Story for “Langley Library turns 100.”

Welton won second place in Portrait Photo for “The show must go on,” which illustrated a Clyde Theatre story. He won third place in Breaking News Photo for “Fire destroys farm building” and third place in Feature Photo for “Whale parade surfaces again.”

Stensland won first and second place in the Crime and Court Story category for “Jurors deadlocked again in child rape retrial” and “Trial in shooting death set for March 12.” She won second place in Breaking News Story for “Growler malfunction over Whidbey raises concern.”

She also won third place in the Editorial category for “There is no conspiracy behind endorsements.”

Graphic designer Schuyler Copeland and former ad rep Wesley Moran earned a third place award in Multiple Advertisement ad for “Historic Downtown Oak Harbor.”

Photo by David Welton This image of a fire destroying a farm building just outside of Coupeville in 2023 won third place for the Breaking News Photo category.