Food Safety News writers James Andrews and Cookson Beecher came home from the April 26 Washington Press Association awards banquet with nine awards, all of them in the daily news category. Here are the awards James received: First prize, Personality Profile, “Keene Remembered for Commitment to Public Health, Unconventional Style.” Second prize, General Features, “Beef Research Money Tied to Record Low Cattle Population.” Honorable mention, Agriculture/Environment, “As California Begins Regulating Fracking, Agricultural Concerns Arise.”

Here’s what Cookson took home: First place, Agriculture/Environment, “Girl Fights E. Coli from Raw Milk as Medical Bills Mount.” First place, Government, “Organics ‘Thrown Under the Bus’ in Farm Bill Extension, Say Industry Advocates.” Second place, Health, “Two Sides of the Coin for Food Safety of Cut Leafy Greens.” Third place, Agriculture, “Concerns About Animal Welfare, Food Safety Spur Industry Changes.” Third place, Health/Medicine, “Dessert Followed by a Hepatitis A Shot?” Honorable mention, Consumer Affairs, “Shoppers Can Pick up Food-Safety Clues at Farmers Markets.” James Andrews, former managing editor and Seattle-based reporter for Food Safety News, holds degrees in Environmental Journalism and English from Western Washington University and has previously worked as a science writer for the National Park Service. His work has been mentioned on ABC World News, the Huffington Post and Esquire’s Eat Like a Man blog. He currently freelances for Food Safety News.

Cookson Beecher spent 12 years working as an agricultural and environmental reporter for Capital Press, a four-state newspaper that covers agricultural and forestry issues in the Pacific Northwest before coming on board as a freelancer for Food Safety News. Previous to her job with Capital Press, she was the editor of the Courier Times in Skagit County, WA. She received her B.A in political science from Hunter College in New York City, and, before moving West, she worked for publishing companies in midtown Manhattan. In the 1970s and 1980s, she and her family lived in North Idaho, where they built a log home and lived a “pioneer life” without running water and electricity for almost 10 years. She currently lives in rural Skagit County of Washington state and is co-owner of Pioneer Dahlias.