TWN
THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER
Friday Harbor editor profiled Page 6
June 2016
Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
Nominate the Dixie Lee Bradley in your office
MEMBER PROFILE
Award provides recognition for a behind the scenes employee Dixie Lee Bradley tirelessly served the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and its members for 45 years. She kept the office on track, provided continuity and bridged gaps between the experienced staff and newbies. Do you have someone like that on your staff who deserves recognition? A behind the scenes person who keeps things running? If so, consider nominating that person for WNPA’s Dixie Lee Bradley award. This award, which was conceived in 1996, symbolizes Bradley’s devotion and passion for community newspapers. It recognizes newspaper staff members who work long and hard, often behind the scenes, to see that the best possible community newspaper is produced and distributed each week. Publishers nominate one staff member per newspaper. The selection criteria includes a demonstrated record over a considerable time period of consistent quality work in any facet of the community newspaper industry including production, circulation, or
front office support. Professional positions, such as photographer and advertising sales, are not included due to ample opportunities for these professionals to be recognized through WNPA’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. There is no entry fee at the time of nomination. However, should its nominee win, the sponsoring newspaper must agree to pay the winning employee a $250 bonus which will be matched by WNPA for a total cash prize of $500 for the winner. The winner also receives an engraved clock. This awsard is a great way to shine a light on an employee who has worked long and hard without a lot of recognition. Look around your office and decide who fits the bill. To enter, send WNPA a short essay describing why your nominee should win. Be sure to include your contact information and send entries to C.J. Burk at cj@wnpa.com or mail to Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, 1204 Fourth Ave. East, Suite 4, Olympia WA 98506. Deadline for submission is July 1, 2016.
Jana Stoner of the Northern Kittitas County Tribune holds up a recent issue in the newspaper office in Cle Elum. The town’s location on I-90 just an hour outside Seattle makes it an easy mountain escape for city dwellers.
Tribune carries on Cle Elum tradition Bustling Cle Elum, located on I-90 on the eastern flank of the Cascade Mountains, is the home of the Northern Kittitas County Tribune, a broadsheet weekly with a circulation of 3,200. Eight full-time and two part time employees round out the staff. Co-publishers Jana Stoner and Terry Hamburg now lead the business, which the Stoner family purchased in 1999. There’s a history of Cle Elum newspapers that stretches back to the early 1900s. They include the Cle Elum Echo and the Miner Echo. Jana’s parents started in the newspaper business in Twisp where they owned the Methow Valley News. Following that, they owned a group of weeklies in South Dakota
for almost 23 years. Jana says she remembers helping put away movable type in drawers as a youngster. When the family sold the South Dakota newspapers, Jana said everyone took a year off from the business, but ultimately were drawn to Eastern Washington when they learned the Tribune in Cle Elum was available. “I said I would stay five years,” Jana said, sitting in an office surrounded by bound volumes of Cle Elum’s early newspapers. Despite her promise of a short term engagement, it wasn’t long before she was shouldering much of the responsibility of the running the operation. See TRIBUNE, Page 2