A warm Inquisitr congratulations goes to The Seattle Times. The newspaper yesterday won no less than five C.B. Blethen Memorial Awards for Distinguished Newspaper Reporting, three of which were first-place awards.

The paper won the top gongs for investigative reporting, enterprise reporting, and consumer-affairs reporting, and came second for feature writing and coverage of diversity. Only The Oregonian in Portland could match five awards; in total, awards were given to writers from a dozen daily newspapers in the region.

Seattle Times reporters Ken Armstrong and Jonathan Martin won the enterprise reporting prize for a series called “The Other Side of Mercy,” an account of the fatal shootings of four Lakewood police officers in 2009. Awarding the duo the top prize, the judges noted, “This is a story that could only be told with first-rate journalists given the space they need to go long.”

Meanwhile, reporter Christine Willmsen received the Debby Lowman Award for distinguished reporting of consumer affairs for her revealing piece on so-called ‘loan wolf’ Emiel Kandi, titled “Lender of Last Resort: I am a Wolf.”

Finally, the investigative reporting award was clinched by reporter Michael J. Berens for his six-part series, “Seniors for Sale,” an exposé of problems in Seattle’s adult family homes. Judges noted the impact of the piece: “Caregivers were sentenced to jail time, government-agency heads were fired and the legislature passed new laws to better monitor adult homes and regulate referral agencies.”

The annual awards were established in 1977 in honor of C.B. Blethen, publisher of The Seattle Times from 1915 to 1941.

Seattle Times Wins 5 CB Blethen Awards is a post from: The Inquisitr

The move was expected; owner Hearst informed staff in January that the paper would close if no buyer was found in 60 days. News leaked March 7 that Hearst had begun offering positions for an online only version of the paper.

Of Seattle PI’s 167 workers, only between 20-25 have been offered work at the online only version.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer was founded in 1863 and is Seattle’s oldest running business.

More details at Seattle PI here.

Seattle PI goes web only is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a memo to staff, Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen and company President Carolyn Kelly (as published in the Seattle Times) blamed the moves on industry changes and the global economic crisis. Both hinted in the memo that further staff cuts may occur next year: “As the 2009 budgeting process continues, there will be additional expense reductions, which may include additional layoffs.”

While print revenue has declined at the paper in line with the rapid dive reflected in the rest of the industry, the paper reported that growth in online advertising, previously a positive for the paper, has stalled due to the broader economic crisis.

According to the memo, The Seattle Times “saw average weekday circulation decline 7.7 percent to about 199,000, while [JOA partner] the Seattle Post-Intelligencer dropped 7.8 percent to about 118,000. The circulation for the Sunday paper — which bears both the Times and P-I mastheads — fell 9.1 percent to 382,000.”

The Seattle Times cuts 10% of workforce is a post from: The Inquisitr