REFLECTIONS | In 2024, Voices Writers Made an Impact — and Won Awards

The holiday season is here, and we've reached the time for reflection. Looking back on 2024, it's hard to know where to begin. In national news, we had a presidential election, global conflicts, high-profile scandals, and more. On a local level, the news was just as fervent. We had hot city council races, we recently learned the South End's council rep is stepping down, we had budget issues, police scandals … It's been a heck of a year.

In the Voices section of the Emerald, we discuss all of the above. And it's been an honor to do that side-by-side with community members like you, who read and contribute to this section. Your voices are what make this section impactful, and I want to use this space to sincerely thank all of our readers, contributors, donors, friends, colleagues, and admirers. Y'all make this possible, and as we turn the corner on the wild ride we had in 2024 and head into 2025 (which is already shaping up to be a doozy in itself), I want to highlight a few of the articles submitted by our contributors this year.

As always, there are way too many to choose from. This year, I'm selecting three that not only reflect our mission of authentic narratives, but also our vision of accurately representing the cultural, economic, and political breadth of the South End.

This article was submitted by Amy Sundberg, a reporter at The Urbanist. This op-ed exemplifies so many key areas of an opinion section. It's not only speaking voice to power, but also galvanizing a community response that can lead to change.

I received an email at the very last minute about this article calling for action when Councilmember Maritza Rivera planned to quietly drop a proviso that would have gutted the Equitable Development Initiative (EDI). This funding program was established in 2016 in response to a racial equity analysis that showed that as Seattle grew, communities of color were being displaced and losing access to opportunities. EDI was intended to curb these issues by providing funding for impacted communities to invest in and purchase real estate. Rivera's amendment put projects like a youth achievement center in Rainier Valley and a social justice library on Beacon Hill on the chopping block.

We scrambled to get the article published. It was submitted on our newsroom's day off. But we got it up, helped spread the word, and hundreds of people flooded the council meeting (coming off a holiday weekend).

In the end, two things happened: The most important is that EDI was saved. But this article also became the most-read article in the Voices section this year. And articles like that one, or even this one, show the power communities can have when we come together and use our voices.

City Council was a hot topic this year. In this piece, another of our most-read articles of the year, frequent contributor Gennette Cordova wrote about newly elected City Council President Sara Nelson. In her critique, Cordova points at Nelson's first speech as council president and her remarks that she will boost police budgets, give tax breaks to business owners (like herself), and rely less on taxes from big businesses like Amazon.

Cordova touched on Nelson's proposed attacks on the Jumpstart tax (you may read some current news on this one) and discussed the ways in which Nelson's ideas would negatively impact the people in our communities. In a lot of ways, this article, published in January, foreshadowed where we ended up as a city at year's end.

Yes, this was a solid article. Yes, it resonated with readers and was top 5 in "clicks" this year. But no, that's not the only reason why I wanted to talk about it. It's year-end — I want to celebrate!

This article, which Cordova wrote in fall 2023 about debunking the myth of defunding police, won a 2023 Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Award (announced in 2024). In fact, this is the first time an Emerald article has won in the editorial and commentary category. This was a big win for our section, our publication, and our community. I want to officially congratulate Cordova on her award, and I look forward to seeing what she will write in 2025 (there will be plenty of topics to cover!).

Whenever I reflect on the year, I have a habit of starting with the "most read" or the contributors who write professionally. However, the heart of this section truly is the contributors who are not "professional" writers, but are concerned citizens living in the South End.

This year, we forged a new relationship with a community member living in the CID. Connor Nash, a resident of Little Saigon, wrote a few articles this year on the politics, crime, and violence that has recently shaped the neighborhood. It's easy for outsiders to read the news and hear reports from journalists on what's happening in this community. But even as a journalist myself, I'd say it's more important to hear directly from people living in the community to learn how policy and action does or does not impact the everyday lives of residents.

I appreciate Nash for stepping up and becoming a voice on the ground for Little Saigon. After the article above, he followed with this one after the mass stabbing in November. His articles (and the upcoming one he's working on as I write this reflection) give a perspective that can't be captured by someone merely reporting. He lives in the neighborhood. He walks to the gym and to restaurants. He has neighbors and friends who live there. These are first-hand accounts of life behind the headlines. The pictures attached to his articles are pics he takes with his cellphone on the scene. This embodies what we do in this section. We are not only discussing the events in our community — we are the community.

Thanks again for reading, writing, and engaging. We'll see y'all next year.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.