MOSES LAKE — Columbia Basin Herald sports reporter Ian Bivona was caught completely flat-footed when he found out he’d won the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s Sportswriter of the Year Award last weekend. 

“I was pretty shocked,” he said. “I had no idea … that I was nominated at all.” 

The WNPA awards have been ongoing for more than 130 years and Bivona's recognition sets him among the best sportswriters in the state.

Bivona, 25, has been covering sports for the Columbia Basin Herald for about three years now. This was his first job after he graduated college, which put him in competition with a number of more experienced writers in the association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest.  

Bivona, who grew up in the D.C. suburbs in northern Virginia, has always been something of a journalism geek and something of a sports fanatic, he said. He started by taking a newspaper class in the eighth grade, then continued all through high school, serving as sports editor of the high school paper for his junior and senior years. 

“It was actually kind of similar to what I do now, writing about the local teams at the school, and maybe occasionally sneaking in a little NFL story or something,” he said. “I never really did the news side unless I had to fill in for somebody.” 

At the same time, he said, he was playing some of the sports he wrote about. 

“My dad was a big sports fan, and he got me into it,” Bivona said. “I played football, and I did track and field. The throwing sports; (I wasn’t) much of a runner … (I did) shot put and discus. They didn’t have javelin where I grew up; I was surprised when I moved out here and saw a track where they were doing javelin.” 

The twin passions of news and sports led Bivona to Auburn University in Alabama, which was known for excellent programs in both fields, he said. He left his playing days behind him, but went to work at the university’s newspaper, graduating in 2022. He packed up his things and accepted the Columbia Basin Herald’s offer of a sports writing job in the opposite corner of the country. 

“I just kind of wanted to see something new,” he said. “The area I grew up in is 20 minutes outside of D.C., so it's a very, very populated area. Everyone's kind of go, go, go. Auburn was a little more laid back, but it's a college town, so it's still pretty busy. So I was looking for jobs all across the country, and then I ended up getting a job offer from the Herald, and I was like, ‘Pacific Northwest, it must look like evergreen trees everywhere.’ You know, big flowing rivers, it rains all the time. And then … a week or two before (I moved), I thought I should probably figure out what this area looks like. And I was like, ‘Oh, it's a desert.’ 

Columbia Basin Herald Managing Editor R. Hans “Rob” Miller said hiring Bivona is one of the best decisions he’s made as a manager, even if Bivona did have to find out that tumbleweeds are a real thing and not just something seen on old westerns. 

“Ian is a hardworking, dedicated professional who knows sports inside and out and whom I’ve come to rely on for solid, clean copy that highlights local high school and college athletes and their coaches,” Miller said. “I’m not looking for him to cover the lifecycle of a tumbleweed. It’s the gridiron, the diamond, court and pitch that matter.” 

What Bivona found waiting for him was a coverage area that spanned two counties and little slivers of a third, with 12 high schools and a community college, most of them playing in different leagues. 

“It varies by the time of year, but the smaller schools have about two sports per season, and then the bigger schools have anywhere up to five or six sports per season,” he said. “Most of them average around four. So it's a lot of driving around.” 

Miller said it’s impressive that Bivona can accomplish as much as he does. The dozen high schools in the Columbia Basin Herald’s coverage area usually have two to five sports going on concurrently, meaning he has 30-40 separate teams to cover in spring and fall. During the summer, league sports keep him busy as well. As each season’s sports ramp up, Bivona’s the one that steps up to lead the production of the annual Gridiron Guide and fall and spring sports previews.

“Ian steps up and takes care of the majority of those publications himself, though the rest of the team tries to help,” Miller said. “Without him though, those productions wouldn’t stand out and be what we want when we’re trying to support local athletes and provide a solid product for readers.”  

In nominating him for the award, Miller sent the contest organizers five of Bivona’s stories, from Lind-Ritzville, Ephrata, Moses Lake, Royal and Othello high schools. Two of those won separate awards for sports writing as well. 

Of those five, the one he’s proudest of was a feature on Ephrata High School athlete Ben Belino, who overcame obstacles to compete in track and field after losing his left leg in a car accident. 

“It was just a very inspiring story about him getting back to what he loves, not just in athletics, but in everything else that he does in life,” Bivona said. “It was definitely a very emotional story … That’s one I’m going to remember for a long time.”