Smoke Signals receives 5 ONPA awards

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Smoke Signals, the Grand Ronde Tribal newspaper, received five awards in the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s Associate Member Contest for work published in 2018.

The awards were announced on Thursday, July 18, during ONPA’s annual convention held at the Salishan Resort in Gleneden Beach.

Smoke Signals photojournalist Timothy J. Gonzalez won first place in the Best News Photo category for his coverage of the Tribal plankhouse’s ninth birthday party published on Nov. 1, 2018.

Smoke Signals received a second-place award for Target Audience/General Excellence, finishing behind The Source Weekly, an arts and entertainment newspaper based in Bend. The Target Audience category was judged on level of interest, relevance, creativity and commitment to target audience.

Smoke Signals staff writer Danielle Frost received a second-place award in Best News Writing for her story "Meteorite Impact," which covered the June 2018 visit of Tribal members to Tomanowos in New York City. Former Smoke Signals graphics designer George Valdez received a second-place award in the Graphics category.

Smoke Signals page designer Justin Phillips received a third-place award in the Design category.

The five awards mark the 31^st time Smoke Signals has been honored by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association since 2009. Smoke Signals was once again the only Tribal newspaper in the state to be honored by ONPA.

Smoke Signals competed against such larger newspapers as the Salem-based agricultural publication The Capital Press and Portland Tribune in the Associate category.

Smoke Signals also recently received five awards from the Native American Journalists Association for work published in 2018.