Spencer Wright of Milford, Utah, bursts out of the chutes for an 86-point ride on the third day of the 2019 Pendleton Round-Up.

PENDLETON — The East Oregonian continued its dominant streak in the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s annual Better Newspapers Contest by taking home the General Excellence award for another year.

The EO has won the top prize for newspapers of its size in the statewide contest for nine out of the past 10 years. This year, the Daily Astorian, another EO Media Group paper, placed second and the Grants Pass Daily Courier placed third.

The EO’s sister paper, the Hermiston Herald, also won General Excellence for its size category, as did the Wallowa County Chieftain, also owned by EO Media Group.

Andrew Cutler, managing editor of the East Oregonian and publisher for several of EO Media Group’s newspapers, said having both the Herald and the EO win General Excellence in the same year is “quite an achievement.”

“The newsrooms in Hermiston and Pendleton — and the entire EO/HH staff — work tirelessly to bring Umatilla and Morrow counties accurate and timely information,” he said. “The Oregon Newspapers Publishers Association allows our reporters the opportunity to compete for the top awards in the state. They’ve done phenomenal work over the last 12 months. I couldn’t be more proud of our institution.”

In addition to General Excellence, the East Oregonian also won several individual awards in the contest, which covered the 2019 calendar year and saw 976 entries in 33 categories from 31 Oregon newspapers and was judged by a panel of editors and publishers from newspapers around the country.

The paper won Best Special Section for its 2019 Pendleton Round-Up magazine, titled “People of Round-Up.”

East Oregonian page designer Andy Nicolais won first place for Best Page One Design. The East Oregonian’s reporting on drugs in Umatilla County, including “Opioid Overload” by Jade McDowell and “BENT paid more than $27,000 to informant” by former reporter Phil Wright won first place for Best Enterprise Reporting. Reporter Antonio Sierra won first place for Best Spot News Coverage for “Rising Concerns” chronicling the events of the McKay Creek flooding in Pendleton in April 2019.

The East Oregonian’s editorial page, led by Cutler, took home second place for Best Editorial Page.

Staff photographer Ben Lonergan’s “Mud Wars” photo took second place for Best Feature photo and “Summer Skatin” took third place in the category, while his “Out of the Chute” took second for Best Sports photo.

Annie Fowler took home second for Best Sports Story for “Making memories: Fathers, sons and Heppner football.” McDowell took home second place for Best Government Coverage for “Coming under fire” about Rep. Greg Smith’s perceived conflicts of interest with his private and public jobs, and “Closed for business” about the city of Lexington’s failure to adopt a budget before the close of the fiscal year.

“Our company is honored to be recognized for the quality of our newspapers by our peers in the newspaper industry,” owner Kathryn Brown said. “Our editors and reporters work hard to shine a light on our communities and keep our readers well informed, and I’m grateful to work with such talented and dedicated journalists.”