Aspen Journalism received six awards in the Colorado Press Association’s 2024 Better News Media Contest. The awards, announced on Aug. 24 at the Local News Solutions 2025 conference, honored three stories by Heather Sackett, the 10-part “In Search of Community” series by Paul Andersen, and Kaya Williams and Laurine Lassalle were twice awarded for their collaborative coverage of the St. Benedict’s Monastery potential land sale, including the A-Mark Prize for Responsive Journalism, which recognizes deep reporting that responds to a community’s needs.
“These awards are an affirmation that we are asking the right questions and providing the community with valuable answers with the power to impact decision makers,” reflects Curtis Wackerle, editor and executive director of Aspen Journalism. “I am extremely proud of the Aspen Journalism team for the dedication and drive that fuels the work we offer to the community. Thank you to our readers and supporters for valuing and believing in this nonprofit model, to the newsrooms that publish and amplify our stories, and to the talented collaborators from other news organizations we worked with on a number of these stories for seizing the opportunity to put our minds and resources together in the interest of better, more accessible reporting.”
Aspen Journalism chose to compete in a higher class of completion. Though AJ would qualify to be in class 1 (dailies with 120 or fewer stories per month), we played up to class 2 for dailies with 121-250 stories per month, which also included Ark Valley Voice, Longmont Times-Call, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Sentinel Colorado, Steamboat Pilot & Today, Summit Daily News, The Aspen Times, The Denver Gazette, The Durango Herald, The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, The Greeley Tribune, The Pueblo Chieftain and Vail Daily.
Earlier this year, Aspen Journalism won seven awards in the 2025 Top of the Rockies Excellence in Journalism competition organized by the Society of Professional Journalists Colorado Pro Chapter.
1ST PLACE: Best Agriculture Story
Awarded by the COlorado press association’s better news media contest
Using less of the Colorado River takes a willing farmer and $45 million in federal funds
First-place honor for Best Agriculture Story went to Heather Sackett, Aspen Journalism’s water desk reporter and managing editor, and KUNC’s Alex Hager for the collaborative story Using less of the Colorado River takes a willing farmer and $45 million in federal funds. The story started with a conversation between Sackett and Hager at a Colorado River Water Users Association conference — thanks to Sackett for attending 72 water meetings last year — where they discussed the skepticism surrounding the System Conservation Pilot Program, targeting water users in the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. After interviews with experts, combing through each of the 175 SCPP contracts signed over two years, and traveling to Pinedale, Wyoming to get the perspective of an enthusiastic participant, the story is an engaging presentation of their findings in both written-word and audio formats. This story was also awarded in the Top of the Rockies contest with first place for best agriculture and environment news.
1ST PLACE: Best News Story
Awarded by the COlorado press association’s better news media contest
Feds rule that next round of drought relief funding won’t cover tribes’ unused water
First-place honor for best news story was awarded to Heather Sackett for Feds rule that next round of drought relief funding won’t cover tribes’ unused water. This story looks at the continuing struggle facing Colorado River basin tribes to benefit from their vast water rights. The story began at the Colorado River District seminar on Sept. 20 when Southern Ute Indian Tribe Vice-Chair Lorelei Cloud broke the news in an emotional panel presentation that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would not be including tribal forbearance projects in the next round of water conservation funding. Both tribes and Colorado officials had believed this funding would be available to tribes and were deeply frustrated with what they say are Reclamation’s broken commitments. Forbearance would pay tribes to hold off on developing some of the water they are entitled to, as ranchers are paid not to use water via the System Conservation Program. Water unused by tribes in the upper basin has been propping up the Colorado River system for decades without compensation to tribes. Bureau officials didn’t directly address the accusation that they walked back a determination that forbearance would be included in an upcoming round of drought relief funding provided under the Inflation Reduction Act, but said they are committed to addressing tribal water issues in a manner that works for each tribe’s unique situation and for basin as a whole.
1ST PLACE: Best Public Service Project
SOCIAL JUSTICE
In Search of Community 10-part series
Aspen Journalism’s “In Search of Community” series covers the importance of regionalism in the increasingly connected space between Aspen and Parachute where the population has swelled to some 90,000 people.
Paul Andersen was awarded first-place in the best public service project for the landmark 10-part “In Search of Community” series written for Aspen Journalism that sought to reexamine the notion of community along the 80-mile corridor spanning from Aspen to Parachute. The project came about following a March 2023 event where we collaborated on the screening of a documentary about Crested Butte’s efforts to preserve the soul of its community and symposium with local leaders talking about challenges facing this valley. Andersen realized he had struck a nerve in seeking a broad and nuanced understanding of the beautiful, spirited, unusual, often troubled and dynamic slice of earth we’ve got here in the Greater Roaring Fork Region. The project was informed by the reality that despite the many differences and conflicts that emerge, there is a cohesive and growing community traversing this urban-yet-rural corridor between Independence Pass and De Beque Canyon. This series was awarded third place in the public service category in the 2024 Top of the Rockies Contest.
2ND PLACE: Best Editorial Collaboration
2ND PLACE: A-Mark Prize for Responsive Journalism
Awarded by the COlorado press association’s better news media contest
In a ‘sacred valley,’ community partners seek to preserve the legacy of St. Benedict’s
Twice awarded in this year’s Better News Media Contest was In a ‘sacred valley,’ community partners seek to preserve the legacy of St. Benedict’s — a multi-media deep-dive into the legacy of the iconic monastery and surrounding 3,700-acre spread in Old Snowmass in light of last year’s nine-figure listing by the order of monks who have stewarded the land for almost 70 years. Kaya Williams, then with Aspen Public Radio, authored the long-form story, which also broadcast as a three-part radio series, with editing support from AJ Editor and Executive Director Curtis Wackerle. Williams and former APR news director Kelsey Brunner shared a second-place award for best editorial collaboration with AJ data editor Laurine Lassalle, who supported the project with records research and building an interactive map of the monastery and neighboring lands. The effort also received a second-place honor in the A-Mark Prize for Responsive Journalism, a new prize in this year’s Colorado Press Association awards, which came with a cash award shared by Williams, Lassalle, Aspen Public Radio and Aspen Journalism.
2ND PLACE: Best Investigative Story
Awarded by the COlorado press association’s better news media contest
Colorado has big dreams to use more water from the Colorado River. But will planned reservoirs ever be built?
Heather Sackett, in her third award of the contest, received second place for best investigative story package along with collaborators Geoff McGhee and William Woody. This story started in early 2024 when Sackett reported on a dam and reservoir project with conditional water rights dating back to the 1960s for nearly 24,000 acre-feet of storage on Thompson Creek that an oil and gas company was seeking to keep alive. Following public scrutiny, the company abandoned the project, but the circumstances raised the question: How many more phantom water rights are out there, lurking on the books, with the prospect of upsetting the balance of the already over-tapped Colorado River?
Sackett teamed up with Luke Runyon at the University of Colorado Water Desk, and they found over 90 such potential projects just on the Western Slope, accounting for more than 2.6 million acre-feet of storage or more Colorado River basin water than the state of Colorado consumes in a year. Sackett received second-place honors in the investigative reporting category for the resulting feature, again brought to life through her on-the-ground storytelling.
