Thank you for supporting us

Last Friday, we hosted our annual fundraiser to support our lobbyist’s work in the state capitol to defend public records access for every journalist in the state.

Thanks to all of you who helped make the fundraiser a home run, bringing tales from work and enthusiasm for the craft. We particularly enjoyed announcing some of the winners of this year’s Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest winners, and sharing in their excitement.

We’ve raised nearly $4,000 through donations and a raffle and intend to make every penny count. If you couldn’t come on Friday, there’s still a chance to donate online. 

Three journalists left with raffle prizes, whose entries were chosen at random. 

-The Boulder Creek Ranch stay went to April Ehrlich, a reporter at OPB. 

-The Brownsville getaway went to Penny Rosenberg, a regional editor at Lee Enterprises.

-The custom cross stitch went to Julia Shumway, the editor of the Oregon Capital Chronicle.

The event also recognized Les Zaitz for his sixth Bruce Baer Award, the top investigative reporting honor in the state. He won for his investigative work into Rep. Greg Smith’s mixing of public service with private contracting to generate a personal profit.

We also celebrated Therese Bottomly, longtime editor at The Oregonian, for her essential work defending press freedom in the state. Though the SPJ First Freedom Award is usually reserved for allies of journalists rather than journalists themselves, her outstanding work more than earned an exception.

We are grateful for the continued support we get from our friends and colleagues and we will continue to work to make Oregon a better place for journalists across Oregon.