Island resident Aida Kouyoumjian earned first prize from the Washington Press Association for a feature story published in the Seattle Times in 2008. The article, “Stories Among Us: Personal Accounts of Genocide,” chronicled Kouyoumjian’s mother’s survival of the Armenian genocide.

Kouyoumjian said the timing of the award’s announcement was even more pertinent because April 24 is the date which commemorates the Armenian genocide. The piece is now eligible for the National Press Association contest, which announces winners in September.

Kouyoumjian also earned honorable mention for pieces in an Idaho magazine titled “Two Potato: A Friendship Forms over the Humble Tuber,” and for an editorial in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer titled “The Bottom Line is All About Money,” co-written by Dr. John H. Lindberg, another Island resident.