The Kirkland Reporter’s Carrie Wood and Matt Phelps won the first-place award for Best Government and Politics Reporting during the annual Society of Professional Journalist’s Awards Banquet held at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue on Saturday.

The contest covers all non-daily newspapers in the Northwest, including Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon and garnered over 2,500 entries.

Other award recipients for Reporter Newspapers include two third place photography awards for Chad Coleman, a second place sports reporting award for Megan Managan of Mercer Island, a third place award in General News Coverage for Joshua Adam Hicks and Lindsay Larin of Bellevue and Paul Balcerak and Dennis Box won third place for innovation online for work on the Maple Valley/Covington Reporter.