Cascade PBS wins 5 Emmy and 18 SPJ Awards

It’s been a good week for the Cascade PBS newsroom, editorial, and creative services teams as prestigious regional awards were announced. 

The 2025 regional Emmy awards were held on Saturday, and Cascade PBS won five awards from the Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences after being nominated for a total of 13 Emmys. 

“Origins: The Last Reefnetters” received four Emmy awards for “The Invasion” in Historical/Cultural – Short Form Content, “The Changer” in Diversity/Equity/Inclusion – Short Form Content, its Season 3 Promo in Promotion – Non-News-Single Spot, and Graphic Arts. Recipients included Director Samuel Wolfe, Co-Director Tyler Rowe, Executive Producer Sarah Menzies, Senior Producer Sarah Hoffman, Production Manager Adam Brown, Design Director Greg Cohen, and Graphic Designer Nick Alexander.  

Cascade PBS’ Creative Services team won an Emmy for their Viewers Like Me Campaign in the Promotion – Non News-Campaign category. Recipients included Jason Devore, Jeremy Cropf, Kaylie Connors, Arlo Greene, Matthew Jorgensen, Lucas Marchi, Kotta Katsuda, Ellen Lee, Monica Arroyo, Keaton Hanna, Ella Louise Khan, Huanran Mao, Melanie Kwon. 

The other nominations for Cascade PBS included episodes of Mossback’s NW, The Nosh with Rachel Belle, Out & Back with Alison Marielle Désir, The Newsfeed, as well as our documentary Wolf Land, and craft nominations for Brangien Davis for Writer, Brianna Dorn for Director, and David Quantic for Editor. 

Then, on Monday, the Society of Professional Journalists Region 10 announced the results of its 2025 NW Excellence in Journalism competition, and Cascade PBS won 18 awards, including seven first-place awards in the five-state regional competition. In the press release from SPJ, Cascade PBS was listed as one of the “top awarded” newsrooms, and multimedia journalist Jaelynn Grisso also got a shout-out as “the leading television journalist” in the competition. 
 
Every full-time reporter that was working in the newsroom in 2025 won at least one individual award in the SPJ competition, and the news team also took second place in the General Excellence in writing category amongst all “Large Newsrooms,” with a judge calling the coverage, “All killer, no filler and something readers value.” Here are the audio, video and written stories the newsroom was honored for, with judge’s comments (when they were included): 

Audio – Government & Politics Reporting  

First Place: Sara Bernard, Laurel Demkovich, “Ferguson vs. Everyone.” 

Judge’s comments: They were all examples of great reporting, The 1st place entry was very engaging in the discussions and observations.  

Audio – Environment & Natural Disaster Reporting  

Second Place: Sara Bernard, Brandon Block, Maleeha Syed, “It’s Not Easy Going Green.”  

Judge’s comments: Good in-depth report of a complicated issue but made it clear. 

Video – Feature (Hard News)  

First Place: Jaelynn Grisso, “5 years after wildfire, Malden is still rebuilding.” 

Second Place: Nate Sanford, Paris Jackson, Shannen Ortale, “The Newsfeed: Records show broad ChatGPT use by WA city officials.” 

Video – Federal Impact Reporting  

First Place: Jaelynn Grisso, “The Newsfeed: Immigration advocates assist released ICE detainees.”  

Judge’s comments: These are difficult stories to cover. They take time to build trust and gather information. It’s critical to invest in them. This story brings another aspect of the nation’s immigration policy to light. 

Video – Investigative Reporting 

Second Place: Jaelynn Grisso, “The Newsfeed: Immigration advocates assist released ICE detainees.” 

Video – Feature (Soft News)  

Second Place: Paris Jackson, Shannen Ortale, “The Newsfeed: Social justice library goes beyond books to housing.” 

Video Series  

Second Place: Staff, “Out & Back.” 

Collaboration 

Second Place: Nate Sanford, “Washington city officials are using ChatGPT for government work,” KNKX and Cascade PBS 

Judge’s comments: An informative story about how local governments use A.I. with focus on the problems solved… and the problems created. 

Writing – Environment & Natural Disaster Reporting  

First Place: Brandon Block, “WA families struggle to rebuild after utility-sparked wildfires.” 

Judge’s comments: Superb storytelling. Grabs you from the very first line and keeps you reading until the very end. It’s human interest, news, disaster and environmental reporting all rolled into one, with drama and emotion to complement the main thrust. 

Writing – Feature (Hard News)  

First Place: Farah Eltohamy, “Washington’s immigrant rights orgs mobilize amid deportation push.” 

Writing – LGBTQ+ Equity Reporting – Large 

First Place: Josh Cohen, “Despite federal ruling, trans Seattleites can’t update passports.” 

Writing – Technology & Science Reporting – Large 

First Place: Nate Sanford, “Washington city officials are using ChatGPT for government work,” KNKX and Cascade PBS.    

Writing – Government & Politics Reporting  

Second Place: Mai Hoang, “How a $22M judgment against Cle Elum pushed the city to bankruptcy.” 

Judge’s comments: The problems of one small town may not draw much attention, but this detailed and insightful reporting explains why it should matter to everyone. 

Writing – Investigative Reporting – Large 

Second Place: Lizz Giordano, “The controversial medical exams that help decide WA workers’ comp.” 

Writing – Business & Economics Reporting  

Third Place: Venice Buhain, “Is Washington state falling out of love with Tesla?” 

Judge’s comments: Perhaps a statement how much of the nation feels. 

Writing – Feature (Soft News) 

Third Place: Josh Cohen, “On this show, Seattle’s City Council is a bunch of sock puppets.” 

Writing – General Excellence, Large 

Second Place: Cascade PBS 

Judge’s comments: Each entry features reporting with clarity and efficiency. This is all killer, no filler and something readers value.