Chilkat Valley news staff brought home four awards from the Alaska Press Club last weekend, including first place for Alaska’s Best Weekly Newspaper in 2023.
Editor Lex Treinen won first place for Best Sports Reporting for his December story about the Glacier Bears putting in a stellar performance at state wrestling championships in Anchorage after a long and arduous travel journey than involved being blocked from crossing the Canadian border due to high winds and snow and a ferry to Juneau in rough seas with up to eight-foot waves.
Former reporter Nakeshia Diop won first place for Best Arts Reporting for her story about the Pioneer Bar celebrating 70 years with a wild party in August.
And former owner Kyle Clayton won the Leslie Ann Murray Award for Best Commentary about the controversy over Juneau Drag performers putting on a show at the Southeast Alaska State Fair.
Clayton, who sold the paper in 2024, said it felt good to go out with the title of best weekly in the state.
“Mostly, I’m appreciative of Max Graham, Lex Treinen, Nakeshia Diop and the people who were here in this last year,” he said. “Lex did a great job of sort of taking over the helm as I made the transition. Max worked at the paper for almost two years and was just a pleasure to work with.”
During Clayton’s six-year tenure as owner of the Chilkat Valley News, it won best weekly in the state three times. He attributes that to more than just the editorial staff, Clayton said business manager Jane Pascoe, advertising managers Larissa Barrett and Polly Palmieri, and the proof readers who make each story shine are indispensable too.
He said he relied on Larry Persily and Bonnie Hedrick as mentors as well.
“They’re who I went to for advice, who helped me do a job that I was totally unqualified to do by any normal standards,” he said, laughing.
And, he said he was supported by former owner-turned-Mayor Tom Morphet too who stepped in to help when the paper was between reporters, writes obits and the Duly Noted columns occasionally too.
“He was a pain in the ass more often than not,” Clayton quipped.
Every story that the Chilkat Valley News produces is a collaboration between the community, the journalist and the audience. The paper relies on questions, insights, tips, letters to the editor, and feedback from the people who live in the region.
“The newspaper is supported by readers and businesses in town who advertise, nonprofits and then just people being engaged in the town they live in,” Clayton said. “We write the news we write because people are active and engaged and make news, good, bad, controversial, everything. It’s a bustling little community and it creates a bustling little paper.”
Read the full list of Alaska Press Club awards here.