The Colorado Times Recorder received eight awards on Saturday in the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2026 “Top of the Rockies Excellence in Journalism” contest.
Competing in the small newspaper division, the Colorado Times Recorder won top honors in six categories, as well as a second-place and a third-place award in two other categories.
The Colorado Times Recorder scored first-place awards for:
Columns/Op-Ed Pieces: What’s Next – Genital Inspections at Book Stores? by freelance columnist Ari Armstrong.
Education Feature: The Plot to Take a Local School District to the Supreme Court, by Logan Davis.
Feature — Long Form: Bully: The Crisis of Leadership in Montezuma-Cortez Schools, by Logan Davis.
Information Graphic: Funding Stream for Advance Colorado, a Conservative Advocacy Group, by Logan Davis.
News Reporting — Single story: Legal Protections for Trans People Are ‘A Perversion of God’s Plan,’ Says Boebert at Worship at CO Capitol, by freelance reporter Robert Davis.
Politics News: How GOP Legislators Manufactured Outrage Against a Transgender Rights Bill in Colorado, by Jamie O’Rourke.
Our news site also won second place in Politics News for, Five CO Springs News Outlets Scrub Their Websites of an Article About the Arrest of Former GOP Council Member, by Jason Salzman and Erik Maulbetsch, and the third-place award for, Invisible Hand: The Man Behind Colorado Schools’ Efforts to Ban Trans Athletes, by CTR columnist Logan Davis and CTR intern Cloe Ragsdale, in the Investigative Reporting category.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) honored the work by newspapers in four divisions (small, medium, large, extra-large newsrooms). Examples of winning outlets include: the Boulder Reporting Lab (19 awards), BizWest (four awards), Colorado Newsline (seven awards), Colorado Politics (12 awards), Colorado Springs Gazette (13 awards), Colorado Sun (13 awards), Denver Gazette (26 awards), and the Santa Fe New Mexican (seven awards).
“We are pleased to honor so many journalists and media outlets for their tireless journalistic efforts,” said Deb Hurley Brobst, SPJ Colorado Pro Chapter president in a news release. “We are seeing top-notch work from journalists throughout the region, no matter what the staff size.
The SPJ also gave special individual awards Saturday to three people in the Colorado journalism world: Linda Carpio Shapley for career achievement; Jeremy Jojala for journalist of the year; and Doug Cosper (posthumous) for educator of the year. The Aurora Sentinel received the SPJ’s First Amendment Award.
In addition, 13 journalism students were presented with SPJ scholarships, and recognized SPJ leader Fred Brown. A Celebration of Life for Fred is planned for May 7.
Learn more about the Colorado Times Recorder and its previous awards and media citations here.
