WashCOG to honor 2025 award winners at annual event
Awards recognize access efforts by officials, media and citizen activists who pry open government doors and insist on sunlight.
The Washington Coalition for Open Government is pleased to present its full slate of award winners for 2025 who will be honored at the annual Sunshine Breakfast & Awards Event on March 13, 2025.
Those to be honored are:
InvestigateWest won the Toby Nixon Award, which goes to a person or organization whose long-term commitment to the cause of open government is shown through exemplary words or deeds. InvestigateWest consistently uses access and public records to produce work that aims to hold government accountable.
Jayme Peloli, mayor of Wilkeson, whose use of public records uncovered that decades of deferred maintenance that led to the failure of the Fairfax Bridge, won the Falconer Shine the Light Award. The award recognizes efforts that clearly illustrate how public records affect real people and helps promote understanding of why access is so important. Peloli was given a Key Award for her efforts, but the WashCOG board decided the impact and efforts going forward warranted the Falconer Shine the Light Award, as well.
Rebecca Moss of The Seattle Times, who won the Kenneth Bunting Award for journalism that uses or advances Washington’s state open government laws or educates residents about them.
Tom Layson and KBTC won the James Andersen Award for years of work to promote the annual Sunshine Week in mid-March and the work of the Washington Coalition for Open Government.
We had an exceptionally high number of Key Award winners in 2025, which are given to acknowledge acts that promote open government in an impactful way. Those awarded for acts that occurred in 2025 are:
Julie Gunter - This activist parent pushed the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to stop destroying records that affect students with disabilities; her campaign resulted in legislation.
Joseph Riley - Successfully sued the Kent School Board for several violations of the Open Public Meetings Act.
Allison Riley - Successfully sued the Kent School Board for several violations of the Open Public Meetings Act.
Asia Fields - One of a team of three journalism students (now alumni) who sued Western Washington University and won after a six-year battle, then donated their winnings to establish an investigative reporting fund for current students.
Erasmus Baxter - One of a team of three journalism students (now alumni) who sued Western University and won after a six-year battle, then donated their winnings to establish an investigative reporting fund for current students.
Julia Furukawa - One of a team of three journalism students (now alumni) who sued Western Washington University and won after a six-year battle, then donated their winnings to establish an investigative reporting fund for current students.
Bill Crittenden - Attorney who volunteered to work with the Western Washington University journalists and won the case after six years.
R.L. McFarland - This citizen activist took on a multiyear court battle challenging the Walla Walla County Commissioners for violating the Open Public Meetings Act to give “official” support to a group challenging pandemic rules.
David Burstein - A data science professor in New Jersey is including Washington records from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction on his website (with material from other states too) when those records are removed from the state sites.
The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader - Reporters for this local newspaper extensively use the Public Records Act in their work, and even produced a special section for Sunshine Week.
The Daily of the University of Washington – The independent student newspaper stepped up to shine light on a board of regents meeting, recording and live-tweeting the event and promptly posting coverage.
Jayme Peloli - This Wilkeson resident researched public records for the history of state maintenance and inspection of the Fairfax Bridge over the Carbon River Gorge, after its abrupt closure isolated the small town – and prompted a state auditor’s investigation.
More information about all of the winners is available on our website: Key Awards .
The Sunshine Breakfast & Awards Event begins at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, March 13, at the Embassy Suites in Bellevue. Guest speaker is Miranda Spivack, journalist and author of “Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities – and the Local Heroes Fighting Back.” Tickets are $50 and available at washcog.org.
The event is a preamble to the national Sunshine Week, which focuses on the importance of public records and open government. This year, it runs from March 15-21.
