In the southern Willamette Valley – where rural Oregonians are too often overlooked and underserved – our tiny but mighty team pours everything we have into shining a light on our communities. We operate with agility, stretching every resource to deliver reliable print and digital journalism every week.
We do it for the love of the craft, for the places we call home, and because local storytelling is vital to the fabric of our towns.
That dedication was recognized last week at the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Conference, where The Chronicle brought home 14 awards for our 2025 coverage. The contest spanned three states: Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Among them were six first-place wins, culminating in the highest honor of all: General Excellence.
In their evaluation, judges from the New Jersey Press Association noted:
“There’s so much to love about The Chronicle – wonderful headlines, clean look, understandable organization, scope of coverage, quality of writing. And that’s just for starters. What a great little paper.”
Winning this kind of recognition isn’t easy under normal conditions, let alone ours. Just over a year ago, we gave up our physical newsroom to go fully remote – choosing to keep the press running rather than pay rent.
While we miss the creative energy a physical newsroom provides – and are working hard to secure a new space when circumstances allow – we haven’t let it slow us down. We gather in coffee shops, libraries, taprooms, and living rooms, collaborating via screen shares every Tuesday to put the paper to bed.
If you peeked behind the curtain on deadline day, you’d see a small group wearing an absurd number of hats just to keep the trains running on time. We laugh every week and call the paper “the weekly miracle.” By Tuesday afternoon, we’re already diving into the next edition.
It’s an exhausting, exhilarating hustle. But reading those judges’ words – and hearing from our readers week after week – reaffirms that local journalism still matters. We can make a real impact, even on weeks when we feel a mile wide and an inch deep.
Speaking of those many hats: I’ll state plainly that I have no business working on the back end of our website. I don’t know my way around SEO or shortcodes, and I have no idea what a “breadcrumb” is. But if I see a problem worth fixing, I’ll try.
While tinkering on the back end last year, some subscribers might have noticed the website got a little wonky.
I broke it. I don’t know what I did, but boy, did I break it.
What blossomed from that mess, however, was a slick new design with better functionality than ever before. Our web host, Tyler, pointed out that we had simply outgrown the site we’d been using since 2019. Upgrading was necessary to keep up with our growth – and it ultimately earned us 2nd place for Best Overall Website, an award category we’d never even applied for before.
That upgraded site allowed us to expand our storytelling and build out resources for our readers. Take “Juanita’s Story,” published last November, detailing the aggressive arrest of 47-year-old Guatemalan immigrant Juanita Avila by ICE in Cottage Grove.
The story earned several awards, including first place for Best Spot News Coverage and Best Writing, plus third place for Online Breaking News Coverage across all divisions.
We dropped our paywall so everyone could access the reporting. We enriched the coverage with original video and audio recorded by Juanita’s daughter, along with resources outlining Oregon’s sanctuary laws and a civil rights toolkit for targeted individuals and families.
It was an interview that stays with you long after the recording ends. It deeply affected reporter Ashlin Sanderson and me as we sat together in the conference room of the Bank Building watching Juanita recount the incident the day before. The experience left us with hard questions on the drive home: How do we process someone else’s grief? How do we digest tragedy? How do we leave it at the door when we get home?
There are no easy answers. The truth is, it changes you.
As her editor, the best comfort I could offer was reminding her that we have a rare privilege: we can give someone a voice when theirs is being stifled. We get to make a tangible impact rather than watching national headlines from the sidelines, feeling helpless.
Ashlin took that to heart. As a rookie reporter, she has stepped up to cover ICE protests, municipal budget shortfalls, and critical community issues in her first year. She earned 3rd place for her series on Flock cameras in Springfield – a deep dive into public comments and city debates that ultimately led the department to pull the surveillance cameras off the streets.
Ashlin celebrated her one-year anniversary with us in June. She’s made a massive impact in a short time through sheer grit, personal growth, and dedication that goes far beyond her byline.
We’re proud of the work we’ve done, but we want to do more – and do it better. We want to expand our reporting staff, get our newsroom back, print thicker papers, and tell deeper stories.
We just need a little help getting there.
If you’d like to support The Chronicle’s growth and believe that local journalism is scrappy, essential, deeply human, and worth fighting for, consider donating to our nonprofit, buying a subscription for a friend, or placing an ad. The more our community invests in us, the more we can reinvest in our community.
Erin Tierney-Heggenstaller is the executive editor and part-owner of The Chronicle.
1st Place
1. General Excellence (Division I-J)
- The highest and most prestigious honor given in its annual journalism contest, recognizing the best overall newspaper in specific circulation and frequency divisions.
2. Sweepstakes Award (Division H)
- Awarded to the news organization that won the highest cumulative number of individual awards – or accumulated the most points – across various categories for its circulation class.
3. Best Writing (Division H-J): Erin Tierney-Heggenstaller (“ICE Raids, Mining Days, Eternal Optimism “)
Judge’s comments: “I especially love the Hyper Local story — it takes what should be routine reporting and gives it a fresh, inventive approach.” … “When I read the lead for Juanita’s Story … I knew this was a winner. Strong, detailed piece.
4. Best Spot News Coverage (Division H-J): Erin Tierney-Heggenstaller (“Juanita’s Story“)
- Judge’s comment: “A compelling story that gives a vivid human dimension to the ICE debate. The writer effectively uses Juanita’s personal experience to reflect the broader scope of the crackdown on immigrants, suggesting why it has sparked such opposition. The story has a touch of advocacy, which the content justifies.”
5. Best Sports Story (Division H-J): McKenzie Days (“Grieving, growing“)
- Judge’s comment: “Exceptional reporting anchored by the memorial atmosphere that enveloped the players! The comeback win narrative was supplemented by reflections from the coach and teammates on the loss of a revered coach in a school bus accident. This game account was infused with emotion, not just reflective of the death, but of the tremendous comeback win the players enshrined. Wow!”
6. Best Feature Photo (Division E-J): Bob Williams (“Fireworks and baseball”)
- Judge’s comment: “Beautifully executed photo. Everything works in this image: composition, colorful background, reaction and lighting. The spectators’ reaction and the use of ambient light to highlight the spectators draw the viewer into the scene.”
2nd Place
1. Best Photo Essay (Division E-J): Bob Williams and Craig Strobeck (“Creswell Winter Lights”)
- Judge’s comment: “Good effort to use of color and light by 2 photographers.”
2. Best Sports Photo (Division H-J): Craig Strobeck (“Tears of Joy”)
- Judge’s comment: “Great job capturing the emotion of the moment.”
3. Best Overall Web Site (Division H-J): Chronicle1909.com
- Judge’s comment: “Easy, readable layout.”
4. Best Lifestyle Coverage (Division H-J): Erin Tierney-Heggenstaller (“‘Spirit’ jumpstarts festival’s heartbeat: BMD re-emerges with year-long itinerary“).
- Judge’s comment: “A community story that flows with beautiful writing, but also informs.”
3rd Place
1. Best Feature Story General (Division H-J): Ron Hartman (“Cottage Grove Bookmine turns 50“)
- Judge’s comment: “A nice deep dive into a bookstore still thriving after 50 years. All the highlights of a half-century are there, along with a look at today’s challenges.”
2. Best Spot News Coverage (Division H-J): Erin Tierney-Heggenstaller (“Creswell Volante Senior Care closes“)
- Judge’s comment: “What could have been a routine story on a faltering business venture gets depth and dimension when it’s framed in part by the impact on those who had planned to use its services. Nor does this piece take the easy route of simply reporting complaints about the company. Rather, it explains in detail both the background of the story and its frustrating impact.”
3. Best Government Coverage (Division H-J): Ashlin Sanderson (“The Rise and Fall of Flock Cameras in Springfield”)
- Judge’s comment: “Story gives a good recap of what happened, and I love all the quotes from residents. Good writing.”
