Petersburg Pilot -

The Petersburg Pilot was judged the top weekly newspaper in the state at the Alaska Press Club competition last weekend. The Pilot placed ahead of the Homer News and the Capital City Weekly in Juneau.

In judging the Pilot entries judges commented: “Nice layout. Great mix of stories. Headlines draw readers in. And in how many newspapers do you see a photo of a brown bear? Bravo.”

Pilot reporter Shelly Pope took second place for best short feature story titled, “USCG Cutter SPAR pays honor to Petersburg woman.”

Publisher Ron Loesch took first place for best picture story of Humpback whales feeding and third place for best scenic photo showing a pod of Orca whales swimming along the shoreline of Frederick Sound.

Loesch earned a third place for best reporting on crime or courts for his story, “D.A. Brower won’t attend town meeting.” In the same category, reporter Greg Knight at the Pilot’s sister newspaper in Wrangell took second place for his story, “Salard sues for Facebook defamation.”

Knight placed second in the best breaking news story category with his election night coverage for the Wrangell Sentinel, “Clean Sweep; WMC board whittled down to one member.”

KFSK radio reporters Joe Viechnicki earned two third place awards from the Press Club and Matt Lichtenstein won second and third place awards for his entries.