The Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber was awarded the first-place prize for General Excellence in its circulation group, in the statewide Better Newspaper Contest, put on by the Washington Newspapers Publishers Association (WNPA).

The awards were announced at an awards ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 8, in Bellingham. The contest was judged this year by the members of the South Dakota Press Association.

The Beachcomber also won multiple prizes in advertising and editorial categories, but its top finish in the General Excellence category — its first such placement since it won the top award in back-to-back years in 2010 and 2011 — was cause for special celebration.

“With our staff down to three — just Pat Seaman, Elizabeth Shepherd and me — all these awards and the first place in general excellence mean the world to our team,” said Beachcomber publisher Daralyn Anderson. “We are thrilled our work has been recognized, and applaud the efforts of so many islanders to keep The Beachcomber interesting and our readers engaged. We have a special thing here.”

Elizabeth Shepherd, the editor of The Beachcomber, concurred.

“We work hard each week to deliver a newspaper that shines a light on all the news and issues facing our island community,” she said. “But this award belongs to the entire community, including many islanders who have contributed content and offered other support throughout the recent tumultuous years, when local journalism has mattered more than ever.”

The judge for the General Excellence prize called The Beachcomber “an attractive, well-designed newspaper with excellent news content, a solid editorial page with [a] local editorial, and solid advertising.”

Additional prizes picked up by The Beachcomber included a second-place prize to Shepherd for The Beachcomber’s editorial pages, a category that spans all circulation groups in the contest.

Judges’ comments for the prize praised the variety of local voices on The Beachcomber’s opinion pages, calling it impressive to see how much input The Beachcomber receives and publishes from its community.

Shepherd also won a third-place prize for her editorial, “Charlie’s Choice,” written as the news unfolded in 2021 that Vashon’s fire chief at that time, Charles Krimmert, was unvaccinated against COVID-19 and objected to a state mandate requiring him to get the shot.

“Especially in small communities, calling out community leaders for their leadership lapses can be challenging,” the judge said of the editorial. “Very well done.”

Along with designer Analise Hannah, Anderson won multiple awards for advertising, including a first, second and third place sweep of the Branding Ad category, for ads designed for Vashon Pharmacy, Leslie Ferriel and Sam Hankin, of John L. Scott Real Estate, and Connie Sorensen, of Compass Realty.

Anderson and Hannah also won first-place prizes for their Women in Business multiple-advertiser spread, and the top prize in the Most Original Idea category, for their double-truck ad for RJ’s Kids and the BARC Pump Track Project.

In their comments, judges described Anderson and Hannah’s work as impactful, clever, cohesive and well-designed.

Other prizes awarded to The Beachcomber included a second-place prize for its 2021 “Island Child” special section, and a third-place prize for the cover art of The Beachcomber’s tourism guide, “Destination Vashon.”

The Beachcomber, Vashon’s weekly newspaper of record, has been the recipient of numerous WNPA awards in previous years. Its most recent award for General Excellence was a third-place prize in the category in 2015.

Founded in 1957, the newspaper had numerous independent owners until 1995, when it was sold to Sound Publishing.

Other Sound Publishing newspapers also won a slew of awards in this year’s Better Newspaper Contest, including a sweep in the General Excellence category for newspapers with a circulation of 7,000 or more subscribers going to The Federal Way Mirror, Auburn Reporter and Kent Reporter.

The WNPA is a statewide newspaper advocacy organization for about 100 publications, which includes The Beachcomber and Sound Publishing, as members.