The Colorado Times Recorder won three journalism awards Friday, helping Colorado bring home over 330 awards in a 4-state regional contest sponsored by the Colorado Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Forty-four Colorado media outlets took home the awards for work in 2023, which were presented on Friday at the Denver Press Club, with each organization winning at least one of three top honors in the various categories, such as “beat reporting” or “breaking news story.” For each category, there were three separate awards for small, medium, large, and extra-large newsrooms. In all, there were over 500 awards dispensed in the contest, called Top of the Rockies.
Topping all Colorado outlets, the Durango Herald got 31 certificates. It was followed by the Colorado Sun (29), Denver Gazette (27), Yellow Scene Magazine (18), and Boulder Reporting Lab (18). Added together, Anschutz publications, the Colorado Springs and Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics, won the most awards.
The Colorado Times Recorder (CTR), an openly progressive news site, was honored in the small newsroom division in three categories.
CTR’s Reproductive Justice and Politics reporter Heidi Beedle’s “Satanism Series” placed second in the “extended reporting” category. Stories in the series included: “The Devil Went Down to Denver: The Satanic Temple, Unbaptisms, and Christian Conservatism,” “The Devil in the Details: After School Satan Club and Public Education,” and “Rosemary’s Baby: The Satanic Temple and Abortion.”
Beedle took third in the “beat reporting” category for her ongoing coverage of reproductive justice.
CTR Editor Jason Salzman (yours truly writing this piece) placed second in the “columns and op-ed category” for the column, “How Anschutz’s Gazette Killed a Story 7 Years Ago — And Why It Matters Today.”
Some lesser-known Colorado outlets — like CTR — scored awards too, like Inside Wire, which bills itself as “nation’s first and only 24/7 radio station dedicated to transforming the criminal legal system, produced by and for currently and formerly incarcerated people;” Bolts Magazine, which is a “digital magazine that covers the nuts and bolts of power and political change, from the local up;” the Denver Voice, which is a “monthly street newspaper that empowers individuals at risk of housing and financial instability by providing low-barrier economic, educational, and job opportunities, as well as an inclusive and supportive community;” and the Southern Ute Drum, which is the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s biweekly community newspaper.
Here’s a list of the Colorado news organizations that won awards (See the full list of awards in the region here.):
Durango Herald — 31
Colorado Sun — 29
Denver Gazette — 27
Boulder Reporting Lab — 18
Yellow Scene Magazine — 18
Rocky Mountain PBS — 15
5280 — 14
Colorado Springs Gazette — 13
Southern Ute Drum — 13
Colordo Public Radio — 10
BizWest — 9
Greater Park Hill News — 9
KUNC — 8
Boulder Weekly — 7
Ouray Country Plaindealer — 7
Colorado Newsline — 7
Boulder Daily Camera — 7
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel — 7
Colorado Politics — 7
Four Corners Free Press — 6
KVNF Public Radio — 6
Telluride Daily Planet — 5
Chalkbeat Colorado — 5
Aspen Public Radio — 5
Longmont Times-Call — 5
Denver Business Journal — 5
Denverite — 5
KRCC — 4
Fort Collins Coloradoan — 4
Denver Voice — 4
Colorado Times Recorder — 3
Aspen Journalism — 3
Collective Colorado — 2
Englewood Herald — 2
Golden Transcript — 2
University of Colorado School of Medicine — 2
Jen Reeder (freelance journalist) — 2
Inside Wire — 2
Arvada Press — 1
Bolts Magazine — 1
Bisnow Denver — 1
Centennial Citizen — 1
Life on Capitol Hill — 1
TheMaverickObserver.com — 1
