Cougfan.com added six more honors to its trophy case this week, collecting awards in the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual excellence in journalism competition for small newspapers, digital media, magazines and radio stations across the five-state Northwest region.
The haul pushed CF.C’s total over the past 12 years to 50 awards exactly. It also marked a first for the site: awards in both breaking sports news and breaking general news went to the same reporter, and a single member of the staff had never before swept a writing category.
The contest covered work published during the 2025 calendar year in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
Jamey Vinnick, CF.C’s Palouse bureau chief, earned first place in sports column writing. One judge said that "reading Vinnick's column is like chatting about sports with your smartest friend, and that's a high compliment.
Columns can be overwrought with tortured writing. Not this one."
Steve Witter, the site’s editor emeritus, dominated the sports features writing category by taking first and second place. His winning entries were “Dennis Hogg, trailblazer in integration of WSU basketball, is still going strong,” and “For Dr.
Ed Tingstad, a sideline fixture at 296-straight Cougar games, Pullman is where the heart is.” A judge summed up the race this way: "Wonderful entries.
It was difficult to select the best. Dennis Hogg beats Dr.
Ed in triple overtime."
Barry Bolton, Cougfan.com’s managing editor, was part of a first-place tie with CF.C co-founder Greg Witter in breaking sports news, and also finished second in breaking general news. That combination had never happened before for the site.
The sports breaking-news award recognized coverage of the death of former standout WSU athlete Dale Ford. Bolton and Witter each wrote pieces that tracked Ford’s path from sports stardom to three decades in hiding and then back to his family and Cougar Nation.
One judge said, "The backstory is amazing but it wouldn't have carried this entry alone without the reporting and writing to convey the many layers to this story. In the end, a story of humanity, humanly told."
Bolton’s second award came for two stories he broke on Feb. 6, 2025: Kirk Schulz’s early ouster as president of Washington State and WSU’s selection of Betsy Cantwell as his successor.
A judge called the category difficult and wrote, "This was a difficult category to judge, because there were many fine entries," and then added, "Is this ... about college sports and money or money and college sports? Accusations are leveled, feelings hurt and truth depends on the source.
The search for a new college president was promised to be 'open and transparent,' but it was not."
CF.C said the entry was one of the rare times it had competed in a non-sports category in the SPJ contest, and it stands as the site’s first honor outside sports.
Whittney Thornton, Cougfan.com’s football photographer, continued her annual run of success in sports action photography, taking second place for her shot of WSU receiver Carter Pabst’s acrobatic touchdown catch against Toledo last season. A judge praised it as a "Wonderful close-up of seemingly impossible reception."