By Ben Olson
Reader Staff
Editor Zach Hagadone and Staff Writer Soncirey Mitchell at the IPC awards banquet holding first-place plaques. Not pictured is former-News Editor Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey. Photo by Ben Olson, who didn’t win jack.
Last weekend, all three full-time members of the Sandpoint Reader editorial staff road-tripped to Boise for the annual Idaho Press Club awards banquet, or “Nerd Prom” as we call it.
A few days and several gallons of booze later, we returned with 10 awards in the Weekly Publication division, given by the statewide professional association to print and broadcast media outlets that showed exceptional work over the course of the year.
Editor Zach Hagadone took home two first-place awards: “Libraries are also sacred spaces of the human race” in the Editorial category, and “Current, former officials respond to ‘no confidence’ vote on Rep. Sauter” in the Political Report category.
Hagadone also earned a third-place award in the Serious Feature Report category for “‘We’re burned out’: Selkirk Fire speaks out on staffing shortage, calls for leadership change.”
Former-News Editor Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey, who stepped away from her work with the Reader to raise a family in summer 2023, also earned a couple of first-place plaques: “On natural bodily functions: The Legislature treats women’s bodies as taboo, and that’s everyone’s problem,” in the Opinion category, and another first-place award in the Election Report category for “Three candidates, none with appraisal experience, vie for vacant assessor position.”
Kiebert-Carey also took third place in the Outdoor Feature category for “A logger’s daughter’s Earth Day.”
For her inaugural Nerd Prom, Reader Staff Writer Soncirey Mitchell earned a first-place plaque in the Arts/Entertainment Report category for “Zombies: The democratic monster.” Mitchell also took home two second-place awards: “Ashes to ashes, grapes to wine: What climate change could mean for Idaho’s wine industry” in the Agriculture Report category and another in the Column category for her “Back of the Book” essays “In search of conkers,” “Why are you like this?” and “Worms on the pavement.”
Finally, the Reader took second place in the General Excellence category for weekly print publications statewide.
Congratulations to our awesome staff for receiving some recognition for their efforts. I’m proud of all of them.
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