SNP places in regional Associated Press competition
SPOKANE — The Shoshone News-Press editorial staff was recently recognized for three of their submissions in the 2017 Utah Idaho Spokane Associated Press Association contest.
SNP is the smallest publication that participated in the competition, falling into Division I (newspapers with under 90,000 assessed weekly circulation) with 14,333.
In that Division, Staff Reporter Josh McDonald earned first place in the “Spot News Photo” category with his submission, “Fighting the Flames — McConnell Hotel fire.”
McDonald was one of the first on scene Aug. 29, 2017, when the historic McConnell Hotel in uptown Kellogg burst into flames. The first emergency crews to arrive and fight the fire were from Shoshone County Fire District No. 2. With them was Firefighter Joe Andersen, who was featured front-and-center in the award winning photo.
McDonald explained that the shot was a product of spontaneousness and a bit of luck.
“I was probably in a place I probably shouldn’t have been, but I made the most of the opportunity,” he said. “I was the only one in that area that was not a firefighter or police officer and they kind of just let me have free reign of the area.”
His photo beat out submissions from Mary Malone at the Bonner County Daily Bee and Geoff Crimmins at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
Managing Editor Chanse Watson also received second and third place awards for his submissions in the “Series or Special Project” and “Photo Portfolio” categories, respectfully.
For the Series or Special Project, Watson submitted several of his articles covering the saga at the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan. Union miners and the Hecla Mining Co. have been at odds since May 2016 over disagreements regarding a new labor contract. The miners then decided to go on strike in March 2017 and have remained on strike since.
Watson’s other submission was a collection of photos that he took over the entire year, depicting a variety of different situations ranging from forest fires and festivals to sporting events and wildlife.
The SNP sent in a total of 10 submissions to the contest, a relatively low number compared to the other papers who participated.
In total, this year’s AP contest included 16 daily newspapers (throughout the three divisions) that submitted 532 entries.
SNP publisher Keri Alexander was pleased with the paper’s showing in the competition.
“As the ‘caretaker’ of the Shoshone News-Press, I am so proud of Chanse and Josh…Our entire team works very hard to produce our local newspaper and it’s not an easy job to cover the large geography of our county. We have numerous cities and school districts, add breaking news and believe me, these two gentlemen are on the move. Most of the time we receive positive feedback for our efforts, and of course it wouldn’t be ‘life’ without some negative criticism that’s shot our way. No matter what the day brings, we’re proud and blessed to deliver our local newspaper to our faithful readers in print and online.”