Chronicle Editor, Reporter Win Prestigious Blethen Awards

For the second straight year, Chronicle Editor Natalie Johnson has won a first-place award for investigative reporting in the prestigious C.B. Blethen Awards for Distinguished Reporting.

The honor was granted for Johnson’s coverage of the long-shuttered Kiwanis Vocational Home in an entry titled “Sexual Abuse, Fraud and Negligence Alleged at Closed Centralia Home for Boys.”

Also earning accolades in the Blethen Awards is reporter Alex Brown, who landed a third-place honor in the features category for his story, “‘I’m Addicted to the Mountain’: Mount Rainier National Park Volunteer Still Going Strong at 81.”

The Blethen Awards were established in 1977 in honor of C.B. Blethen, who was publisher of The Seattle Times for 26 years, from 1915 to 1941. They’re administered by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association, which includes newspapers in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Alaska, Alberta and British Columbia.

The Chronicle competes against much larger publications in a category that includes all regional newspapers with circulations of 50,000 and under.

“I am just proud of the newsroom that they consistently over the years win these prestigious awards,” said Lafromboise Communications President and Chronicle Publisher Michael Wagar. “We don't do it for the awards, we do it because of the importance of journalism and its impact on democracy. We do work so hard. It is nice to get some accolades. I couldn’t be happier.”

Johnson, who took over as editor of The Chronicle in late March, authored a series of stories focused on allegations of sexual assaults, malfeasance and other issues at the Kiwanis Vocational Home, which was located in north Centralia before being closed in the early 1990s.

The state and other parties have been hit with a number of lawsuits following revelations of what occurred at the facility for boys in the foster care system.

“When I was interviewing the former residents, many of them were very emotional and had spent most of their lives trying not to talk about their childhood, and more than one tearfully told me this was the first time an adult had ever taken him seriously,” Johnson said. “That’s why it’s important. That’s our job.”

Last year, Johnson earned the same award for her coverage of disruptions and upheaval at the Lewis County 911 Center. It was the first ever win for The Chronicle in the investigative journalism category.

“That’s the hardest and has the most impact,” Wagar said of the category. “To get that two years in a row competing against newspapers in five states, that tells you this is a great paper.”

Brown’s third-place award marks The Chronicle’s first win in the features category.

The former writer for The National Journal, who arrived at The Chronicle early this year, earned the accolade with a feature on Annemarie Randall, who remains active as a Mount Rainier volunteer in her early 80s.

“Alex does his best work when he gets his story idea and we just set him loose to do it,” Johnson said. “And that’s exactly what happened with Annmarie and this story. This story was written in his first couple of months working here, and I can only imagine what he’ll write for us in the future.”

The Chronicle has won 13 C.B. Blethen Awards since 2005.

The Chronicle in 2016 received three Blethen Awards for deadline and enterprise work published in 2015 and 2016. A first-place win in deadline reporting acknowledged coverage of a March 2016 fire that claimed the lives of three young children in Centralia. The Chronicle took third-place in the same category for comprehensive coverage of flooding throughout Lewis and Thurston counties in December 2015. The staff also took third-place in enterprise reporting with its week-long series on drug issues titled “Lewis County Highs and Hopes.”