Congrats to our Rookies of the Year!

Every year SPJ Oregon chooses a Rookie of the Year — a journalist who went above and beyond during their first year of professional work — and awards them with $500.

We’re catching up on the last two years, so we’ve got two winners. A big congratulations to Monica Samayoa of Oregon Public Broadcasting for winning 2019 Rookie of the Year and Tess Riski of Willamette Week for winning 2020 Rookie of the Year!

Samayoa spent her first year in 2019 juggling in-depth enterprise pieces while filing multiple daily and breaking news reports. We’re impressed with all the work she’s done to include diverse perspectives in her stories.

“One hallmark of [Samayoa’s] enterprise journalism that’s stood out from the start of her reporting career: she gets out into the field to find relatable characters who make stories and life’s challenges resonate with her audiences,” writes editor David Steves.

Riski was the lead reporter on a team covering protests in Portland — including the arrival of federal agents and the use of force against demonstrators — and was early to recognize the role QAnon would play in state elections.

“The first months of 2020 were a unique moment to begin a journalism career,” writes editor Aaron Mesh. “In her first months at Willamette Week, Tess showed an immediate talent for understanding and explaining complicated stories.”

The SPJ Oregon Board was thrilled to have such strong candidates among these nominations, but the decision wasn’t easy. Samayoa and Riski went up against other journalists who produced amazing work during their first years in 2019 and 2020. To us, this is a promising signifier of the future of journalism in Oregon, and we look forward to what next year’s nominations bring.