Sue Ellen White, a longtime Langley resident and journalist, was recently honored at the Northwest Excellence in Journalism Awards gala in Seattle.

Competing in the non-daily division and against journalists from across five states, White took first place in the Environment, Nature & Science Reporting category for her series, “Paddle around Whidbey.” The series, which ran in The Record in 2014 and 2015, was a first-person account of her and her husband’s circumnavigation of Whidbey Island by kayak.

A total of four stories were published, but only three were judged due to the first being printed prior to the 2015 contest period.

Held by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Northwest Excellence in Journalism Awards is hailed as the largest competition of its kind in the nation. This year 2,300 entrants from a range of media outlets — daily and non daily newspapers, television, magazines, radio and online publications — competed for first, second and third place awards in 150 categories.

The competition is held in Region 10, which includes  Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.