1st Place Winner, 2009 Idaho Press Club Award of Excellence in the category Magazine Writing – Serious Feature
Winner, Excellence Award, Capital City Communicators 2009 IMPACT Awards in the category Feature Writing
“Memories Of Minidoka” is the story about Minidoka, Idaho’s WWII Japanese internment camp, and the people who were forced to live there more than six decades ago.
Southwest Idaho has the largest per capita population of Basques, outside of the Basque country and lucky for the rest of us, they brought with them their music, their dance, and their delicious cuisine. This article takes a look at the history of how Basque food arrived in Idaho and how it has thrived over the past century.
http://www.sunvalleymag.com/Sun-Valley-Magazine/Summer-2010/Idaho-rsquos-Basque-Tables/
My feature article, “Memories of Minidoka,” which I wrote for Sun Valley Magazine (www.sunvalleymag.com/Sun-Valley-Magazine/Winter-2010/Memories-of-Minidoka/), received the Excellence Award from Capital City Communicators in the 2010 IMPACT competition. The article chronicled the weekend that several Japanese Americans returned to the Minidoka Internment Camp, where they had been imprisoned during World War II. It told the story of their feelings and memories at returning to the camp and how old and new friendships were kindled.
The IMPACT (Idaho Marketing, PR and Communications Talent) Awards recognize the top work of Idaho’s communicators in a variety of categories, ranging from public relations and marketing, to websites and video scripts. “Minidoka” received the highest award in the Feature Writing category.
It was an honor to hear my name called out as first place winner in magazine writing, serious feature category at the 2009 Idaho Press Club Awards. One reason I was so pleased was because I received the award for my story, “Memories of Minidoka – Revisiting Idaho’s Japanese Interment Camp,” which I had written for Sun Valley Magazine (you can read it online at www.sunvalleymag.com/Sun-Valley-Magazine/Winter-2010/Memories-of-Minidoka/). For me, writing that story was an amazing experience. I spent a whole weekend with many of the Japanese-Americans who had been interned at the Minidoka Camp during WWI. Many of them were in their 70s and 80s. Together we went on a pilgrimage back to the historical site of the former camp, where they recalled memories of living behind barbed wire and guards with machine guns, how they were forced to live in near squalor, how their families lost everything they owned, and how they had long ago forgiven those who had wrongly imprisoned them. The pilgrimage is organized every summer by the Friends of Minidoka (www.minidoka.org). It was a moving, emotional and important experience and for anyone interested in this part of history, I would encourage you to be a part of this summer’s pilgrimage, June 25-27.
This was the seventh Idaho Press Club Award I have won over the past few years. All of them mean a lot, as they acknowledge the quality of my work. But for me, seeing the story of Minidoka recognized was very special.
“The Elegant Barn” celebrates the beautiful partnerships – and friendships – formed during the design and construction of an unusual Sun Valley home. (Click photo to go to story).
“SAVING THE BIRDS OF PREY” takes a look at the history of the Peregrine Fund headquartered at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise Idaho and how the organization’s research has saved scores of near extinct bird species throughout the world. (Please click on photo to go to article).
“Characteristic Lines, Uncharacteristic Results” is about the unusual pairing of materials used to create this lovely home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The Summer/Fall 2008 issue of Sun Valley Magazine (which included two of Patti Murphy’s articles on the sport of falconry and on the Peregrine Fund) has won the 2009 Maggie Award for best Semi-Annual Consumer Magazine! The Maggie Awards are the most prestigious national publishing awards in the Western United States (presented by the Western Publications Association), considered the “Oscars of the magazine publishing industry.” Sun Valley Magazine is in good company, as other winners have included Shape, Sunset, Arizona Highways, Western Interiors and Design, Backpacker, Yoga Journal, Sierra, Mother Jones, and San Francisco Bay Guardian.
And this same issue was also the proud recipient of a 2008 Ozzie Award for “Best Use of Photography” and a 2008 Eddie Award for Best Editorial Content (including Murphy’s two feature stories). The incredibly prestigious Ozzie and Eddie awards are open to all nationally-distributed magazines and are given in recognition of excellence in magazine design (the Ozzie) and editorial content (the Eddie). It is the largest national competition for magazines, and we are proud to have been able to contribute to this wonderful honor.
