The Jefferson County-Port Townsend Leader earned 13 awards in the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2021 Better Newspaper Contest.

Winners in the competition were announced Friday, Oct. 8, following the 134th annual meeting of the association.

The contest included more than 50 Washington newspapers and nearly 1,500 entries that were published between April 2020 and March 2021.

The competition was judged by the Kentucky Press Association.

The Leader won awards in multiple advertising categories, special sections, page design, and photography, as well as the paper’s education coverage, general news, crime/courts reporting, investigative reporting, and personality profiles.

The Leader was presented with two first-place awards in advertising.

Rainier Powers, Jessica Heron, and Josh Hamilton placed first for their Business Owners Day ad that featured multiple advertisers.

Powers and Hamilton also won first place in best newspaper house ad.

Powers earned second place in the “Single Advertiser, Smaller than 1/2 Page” category for an ad for the Port Townsend Wood Workers Show.

Powers and Hamilton also teamed up for third place in the same category for a Presidents Day advertisement.

Powers and Heron won third place in small space advertising for their ad, “Ground to Perfection.”

The local newspaper also won second place in Lifestyle/Culture Special Sections for its Lifestyle magazine, helmed by Leader publisher Donna Etchey and designed by Powers.

In news coverage, editor Brian Kelly won three first-place awards.

He won the top prize in investigative journalism for his coverage of the financial meltdown of the Fort Worden Public Development Authority. Kelly also took first place in courts/crime coverage.

Former Leader reporter Nick Twietmeyer won first place for best personality profile for his story about landscaper Terry “TJ” Belgarde.

Twietmeyer also took third place in best long news story for an article on the mixed bag of results in the summer season for local fishermen.

Former reporter Alli Patton earned second-place honors in education reporting for her coverage of the Sunfield Waldorf School.

Patton also won second place in color portrait photography.

Kelly picked up a first-place award for color pictorial photography.

Kelly also earned second place for best feature-page design.

“This past year had been challenging for us all,” Etchey said. 

“I cannot be prouder of our entire team. Throughout this past year, they have worked hard to keep you updated, tell your stories, and bring you all the latest news. These awards only highlight some of the incredible work our team does day in and day out,” she added.