Spokesman-Review sports department earns multiple APSE, SPJ awards

The Spokesman-Review sports department picked up several awards in recently judged contests.

The Spokesman collected four awards in the 2025 Associated Press Sports Editors Contest judged in February, and recently picked up three more honors in the Society of Professional Journalists' Northwest Excellence in Journalism Awards.

Competing in Division B - the second largest classification in APSE - The S-R earned a Top 10 award for print portfolio, which includes both daily and Sunday sections, while collecting two Top 10 reporting honors for breaking news and another Top 10 for long features.

Dave Boling's story on Eastern Washington and former Central Valley football player Brandon Thomas' painful ordeal of playing on a prosthetic leg earned the long features award.

In breaking news for APSE, Theo Lawson's story on Tyon Grant-Foster getting clearance to play for Gonzaga's basketball team, and Elena Perry's story on East Valley transgender athlete Veronica Garcia's 400-meter victory at the state track and field championships were both honored.

Lawson's breaking news coverage of Grant-Foster also earned an SPJ first-place award.

Boling earned a first-place award in SPJ for column writing. His entries included coverage of Gonzaga men's and women's basketball, and former Washington State football coach Jimmy Rogers.

Outdoors editor Michael Wright also picked up a first-place award in the SPJ contest with his story on a unique hunting dispute near the Washington-Oregon border.

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