The Northern Light wins 25 newspaper awards

It’s been a record year for The Northern Light and its special publications.

During the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association (WNPA) 130th annual meeting on October 12–14, The Northern Light, Waterside, Pacific Coast Weddings and Mount Baker Experience received a total 25 awards for exemplary ad design, editorial, photography and web design. All publications are published by locally-owned Point Roberts Press, which competed against newspapers with similar circulations.

In advertising, The Northern Light received 14 awards, including first place for use of process color in a full page ad for Cinderella’s Secret designed by Ruth Lauman and Catherine Darkenwald. It also won first, second and third place for most effective use of small space in ads designed by Lauman, Darkenwald and Janet McCall. The Northern Light’s Borderite Report, designed by Lauman, Doug De Visser and Louise Mugar, received first place while the BP Bay Builders received second place in the youth-oriented content category.

Sister publication Pacific Coast Weddings and Kara Furr, Louise Mugar, De Visser and Lauman, won first place in the lifestyle/culture special sections category; Mount Baker Experience and Oliver Lazenby, De Visser, Stefanie Donahue and Pat Grubb came in second in the same category.

Lazenby won third place awards for a story titled “Customs and Border Patrol supervisor arrested” in the best breaking news story category and another for “Ski to Sea with the Wetboyz” in the best general feature story category. Donahue won third place for “Dissonance among NWFR commissioners swells in wake of recent legal dispute” in the best government reporting category. Writer Sarah Sharp won second place for “Quilting is More Than a Job” in the best lifestyle feature story category. Contributing photographer Wayne Diaz won third place in the black and white feature portrait in the pictorial photo category for a photo taken during the Birch Bay Music Festival.

In the digital realm, Mount Baker Experience and Lazenby, De Visser and Grubb won second place for best website; The Northern Light and Grubb won third place in the same category.