This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Colorado Press Association’s annual convention. The Local News Solutions 2024 gathering held Aug. 22-24 in a hotel conference center in a north Denver suburb delivered on its thematic premise — that strategies exist to strengthen and sustain local journalism. Chief among them is collaboration. Despite the well-documented contraction of the local news industry writ large over the past two decades, our state and our region boast a sizable group of talented reporters, editors and publishers dedicated to their communities. There is real momentum in Colorado’s news business to build stronger bonds between news organizations in ways where we leverage each other’s strengths to better serve the public. That was the other big takeaway — being successful in an ever-evolving media landscape means listening to the communities we serve and understanding what drives outcomes both positive and negative. Go forth and use what you hear to craft ways to reach your community in the most impactful way you can. Coming full circle, that could mean partnering with colleagues at other news organizations, or from other corners of the community. Creativity is key.
So it was truly an honor one the convention’s final day to receive a first place award for Best Editorial Collaboration in the CPA’s 2023 Better News Media Contest, for the five-part water and urban landscape series Aspen Journalism co-published with Allen Best of Big Pivots. The stories that ran in November and December of last year documented the sea change in how Colorado is thinking about its water use — and how amenities such as lush bluegrass laws, especially of the ornamental variety, are being squeezed out of any water budget that accommodates future urban growth in this arid place. True to the collaborative intention stated above, Allen and I worked to make each other’s news organizations better — though he did the heavy lifting crisscrossing the state and writing over 16,000 words on a topic that captures deep interest because of its connection to how we build our communities and care for our environment. I like to think Aspen Journalism added value because of our commitment to in depth and investigative reporting, and the editing process Allen and I worked through.
Aspen Journalism was also awarded second-place honors for Best Environmental Story — always tough competition in these parts — for Sarah Tory’s outstanding work covering a project designed to convert captured methane from a defunct coal mine into electricity. The story broke down why the project has transitioned to a methane “flaring” operation and why that is still a win for the climate, despite the loss of the innovative power source. The reporting came about because Tory, a Carbondale-based freelance journalist whose work appears in national publications, had been digging into issues related to coal-mine methane for years for Aspen Journalism and got wind of the developments at the shuttered mine near Somerset, Colo., in the North Fork Valley. It’s the kind of story accessible to very few journalists or news organizations, but we brought it to life over months of work. A big part of the reason why we are able to do that is our unique model and collaborative nature. We take pride in the fact that 27 other news organizations across Colorado published our work in 2023, because they value the chance to run in-depth journalism that wouldn’t otherwise exist. So we help each other out — Aspen Journalism leverages their reach, they leverage our unique editorial product, both parties take the win and the public is better served.
Congrats to all those honored this year by the Colorado Press Association. It was inspiring to be surrounded by the best of Colorado journalism and we are glad to be a part of the give and take.
Read more about the awards below and thank you, as always, for reading and supporting Aspen Journalism.
— Curtis Wackerle
Editor & Executive Director
Aspen Journalism
Our nonprofit mission is to produce good journalism for people who care about Aspen, the Roaring Fork Valley, and the upper Colorado River basin.
