Aspen Journalism recognized with six awards in 2024 Better News Media Contest
AJ claimed three first-place awards, including best news story and best public service project
Dear friends of Aspen Journalism,
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. Aspen Journalism competed in the Class 2 category.
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. 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.
I invite you to take a moment to learn more about these awards and re-visit the award-winning stories, which we’ve summarized here. As always, thank you for reading, and supporting, Aspen Journalism.
Curtis Wackerle
Editor and Executive Director
Aspen Journalism’s nonprofit newsroom asks the tough questions and makes sense of complex issue for the betterment of all with a stake in the greater Roaring Fork region and upper Colorado River basin. This work is funded entirely by donations and grants; our stories can be read without paywalls or ads on our website, and are made available for free to newspapers across the state.