Former Reporter staff writers win awards

Published 1:54 pm Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Two former staff writers for the Issaquah and Sammamish Reporter were honored last weekend in the annual statewide contest by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

Kelly Montgomery received a first place award for the story, “The write stuff,” about a Sammamish teen, Cian O’Farrell, who self-published a book. Cian, who has high-functioning autism, wrote “The Big Book of Stanley,” and uploaded to Amazon.

Montgomery received a second place award for the story, “Small Shops hurt by liquor laws.” The story told of how Allen and Janet Bechtel of Sammamish struggled to keep their wine shop, World of Wines, open in the face of new voter-approved liquor laws.

Linda Ball received a third place award for the story, “Eastside Catholic vice principal ousted for marrying same sex partner.”