Idaho Press Club honors Reader with eight awards for 2020 reporting

By Reader Staff

Despite it being a year of historic tumult for the world in general, the Reader had a winning 2020 — at least as far as its reporting went. The paper earned eight accolades in the weekly publication category from the Idaho Press Club when it handed out its annual awards on May 1, honoring the best journalism produced in the state during the past year. 

Notably, Reader News Editor Lyndsie Kiebert took second place for pandemic reporting — a brand-new category put in place by the Press Club to recognize journalists for their tireless efforts in covering the story that continues to dominate every media outlet on the globe.

Kiebert’s story “Masks, money and ‘making some sort of point’” earned her high praise — even more so as she placed alongside reporting from the Idaho Mountain Express, which has covered the COVID-19 pandemic from the epicenter of Idaho’s outbreak in Blaine County. The Reader and the Express were the only weekly papers in the state to place in the category.

Meanwhile, Reader Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone’s work earned him a first-place win for opinion writing with his piece “A history of violence: Terrorism, the media and taking things seriously.”

Hagadone also took second place for general news story with coverage of the 2020 Fourth of July celebration; third place for spot news coverage of the summer 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations and subsequent militia patrols in Sandpoint; third place for editorial writing about the “Disobey Idaho” protest; second place for business reporting with his piece on the rumors surrounding future development at the former-Thorne building in Dover; and second place in crime/courts reporting for breaking the news that the racist robocaller who has plagued Sandpoint — and the Reader — for years is facing a $13 million fine from the FCC.

Finally, Hagadone and Kiebert shared a second-place win for political reporting for their work covering the firearms lawsuits against the Festival at Sandpoint’s no-weapons policy.

Since returning to publication in 2015, the Reader has been honored by the Press Club with 19 awards across a range of coverage categories, including general excellence in 2018.