Long-time Lander resident and former Lander Journal publisher Bill Sniffin recently received the General James O. Amos Award from the National Newspaper Association.
Recognized as one of the highest and most dignified tributes in community journalism, the award is presented to a working or retired newspaperman who has provided distinguished service and leadership to the community press and his community, the NNA said in a press release in August.
The Amos Award has been presented annually for the past 86 years to a single publisher in the country, and only one other Wyoming publisher has ever been honored with the lifetime achievement: Milton Chilcott, in 1989.
Sniffin
Sniffin started his career in journalism when he was 17, writing a weekly column for the local Elgin, Iowa, newspaper – the Echo – and serving as editor of his high school paper at Valley High School.
After high school, he attended a Journalism Short Course at Iowa State University, then became sports editor in Harlan, Iowa, and later sports editor at Denison, Iowa, where he attended Midwestern College.
In 1966, he became editor of the Harlan Newspapers, winning a number of national awards, then in 1970, he and his wife, Nancy, moved to Lander, where he took over as editor-publisher at the Lander Wyoming State Journal, a publication that was a consistent national award winner during their time at the helm.
Over the next 29 years, the Sniffins operated the Lander newspaper, founded three other newspapers including the Wind River News and the Dubois Frontier, and purchased a number of other newspapers in the region, plus a weekly in Maui.
Sniffin also served as president of the Wyoming Press Association in 1980, and he has self-published six books about Wyoming, selling more than 40,000 copies.
He still writes a weekly column for the Cowboy State Daily and serves as the digital news organization’s publisher emeritus, having spent two years as their publisher (2020-2022).
Accolades
The Sniffins have promoted local tourism as well, with Sniffin serving as the founding president of the Wind River Visitors Council more than 30 years ago.
Former Wyoming Tourism Director Gene Bryan said Sniffin was “helpful during an extremely critical period in the Wyoming tourism industry’s history – the fires of 1988.”
“He and the rest of Wyoming media were 100 percent supportive of the public-private program we put together to overcome the worldwide perception that Yellowstone National Park had perished,” Bryan said.
Sniffin also served as vice-chairman of the Wyoming Aeronautics Commission and was appointed to the Wyoming Travel Commission Board of Commissioners by Gov. Mike Sullivan, and Wall Street Journal alumnus Mark Raymond said Sniffin’s “very important work addressing the high incidence of cancer among uranium miners who worked at Jeffrey City overlaps the evidence of quality and community leadership.”
“The series of stories, cartoons and editorials earned not only a first-place award for investigative reporting from the NNA but also played a role in the establishment of the $100 million trust fund established by Congress, allocating a $100,000 payment for each of the miners,” Raymond said, noting that U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson nominated Sniffin for a Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for that work.
Further, Raymond said “very little of consequence in Lander, Wyoming, happened without Bill’s involvement.”
“The One Shot Antelope Hunt, the local hospital, the museum, local education, community development, tourism, service organizations, and more all benefited from Bill’s involvement,” Raymond said. “His leadership was recognized in the community with Lander’s Lifetime Contribution Award.”
Sniffin was nominated by former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson’s press secretary Stan Cannon of Lander and retired publisher Dave Simpson of Cheyenne, among others.