Smoke Signals wins ONPA award

Smoke Signals remained the only Tribal newspaper to win an award in the annual Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Associate Member contest.

Smoke Signals received a second-place award in feature writing for staff writer Danielle Frost’s story about Grand Ronde Police Chief Jake McKnight’s grueling stay at the FBI training facility in Quantico, Va., that appeared in the Oct. 15, 2017, edition.

The award is the 26^th time that Smoke Signals has been honored by the statewide journalism association in the last 10 years.

ONPA awards were announced during the July 19-20 convention held at Brasada Ranch near Bend.

Smoke Signals also won six awards in the annual Native American Journalists Association Media Awards contest for work published in 2017. The awards were handed out Saturday, July 21, during an awards banquet held in Miami, Fla.

Frost's story about Tribal member Heather Cameron Haller, who has been missing for five years and is likely a victim of violence against Native American women, garnered a first-place award for Best Coverage of Native America.

Frost’s award marks the second year in a row that Smoke Signals has won the first-place award in the Best Coverage of Native America category.

Smoke Signals photojournalist Michelle Alaimo won two second-place awards: one in News and one in Features. Her photo of the Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse that occurred over Grand Ronde was honored in the News Photo category while her photograph of Tribal youth on spring break was honored in the Features Photo category.

Rhodes was honored with a second-place award in News Writing for his story about the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse and a third-place award in Feature Writing for his story about a book that recounted Louis Kenoyer being the last speaker of the Northern Kalapuya language.

Tribal member Justin Phillips received a third-place award for designing the newspaper.