Capital Chronicle wins award in highly competitive Best of West journalism contest

The writing and reporting of Capital Chronicle’s deputy editor were recognized in the highly competitive Best of the West journalism contest.

The judges gave Julia Shumway second place in the short feature category for her well-crafted story about a stalled state Senate and the family of a Toledo reserve police officer waiting for lawmakers to recognize his sacrifice.

As Shumway reported, reserve officer Gary Sumpter was the only one on duty in Toledo on a Saturday in mid-March in 1969 when a call came in about a driver leading an Oregon State Police trooper and a Newport police officer on a high-speed chase over the winding forested highway from Corvallis toward Newport. The driver, 17-year-old Michael Meester, opened fire, wounded the trooper and then killed Sumpter, who was providing backup cover. 

A Democratic lawmaker, Rep. David Gomberg of Otis, introduced a resolution last year to recognize Sumpter’s sacrifice, a necessary step to get the state Department of Transportation to install a highway memorial sign recognizing Sumpter’s death while trying to protect a fellow officer.

But last year, that recognition was held up, week after week, while Republican senators brought Senate votes to a standstill during their boycott of a bill on abortion and reproductive health care. The protest lasted six weeks while the family waited.

Judge Alison Gerber, editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, remarked on Shumway’s “excellent and well-written story using a seemingly minor piece of legislation to illustrate government dysfunction.” 

“The writer used small but effective details to demonstrate the hardship this family faces after the father was killed,” the judge said.

The contest is one among the most competitive in journalism. News organizations from 14 states submit entries, and unlike many other contests, all outlets compete for the same prizes: There is no distinction based on size. That means that a Capital Chronicle reporter, one in a team of four, goes head-to-head with reporters in newsrooms with dozens of staff members and many more resources. In the short feature category, Shumway was sandwiched between a story by two Houston Chronicle reporters, which won first place, and one from a Seattle times reporter, who won third.

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