WashCOG will recognize KBTC TV, Tom Layson with the Andersen Award

Tom Layson, KBTC

The Washington Coalition for Open Government will recognize KBTC TV and its Managing Editor Tom Layson with the Andersen Award at the coalition’s annual Sunshine Breakfast on March 13.

KBTC, founded in 1961, is owned by Bates Technical College in Tacoma and affiliated with PBS. It delivers network and local programming to Western Washington audiences via the airwaves and cable.

In addition to being KBTC’s managing editor, Layson also produces and hosts the station’s weekly Northwest Now program. He has long advocated open government. For years Layson has dedicated a segment of Northwest Now to Sunshine Week, a recurring national event that coincides with James Madison’s birthday in March.

Layson, a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, worked at television stations from Yakima to New York-New Jersey before returning home to KBTC.

The James Andersen Award recognizes a person or organization who does something extraordinary to advance the coalition’s cause. The award is named for the late James Andersen, a former legislator and chief justice of the state Supreme Court who was a founding member of WashCOG’s board.

WashCOG’s Sunshine Breakfast is a time for transparency advocates to gather, connect and celebrate our ongoing fight against government secrecy. The breakfast is also WashCOG’s biggest fund-raising event of the year. The breakfast is 7:30-9:30 a.m. March 13 at the Embassy Suites in Bellevue.