Recognized by our peers
More exciting news on Aspen Journalism from the awards front. Thursday afternoon, the Colorado Press Association announced the winners of the 2020 Colorado Better News Media contest, which are the most highly anticipated, and attract the strongest level of competition, among newspaper-industry awards in the Centennial State.
Our small, nonprofit news organization did quite well, competing in a class that includes larger outfits like the Durango Herald, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Aurora Sentinel and Pueblo Chieftain.
You can read all the details below in Executive Director Brent Gardner-Smith’s post about the awards, but Aspen Journalism was honored in three categories. As editor, it was particularly gratifying to see work from multiple corners of the newsroom recognized. Our COVID-19 reporting got a first-place award in the Best Health Enterprise/Health Feature Story, quite the honor in this of all years. Work from the Connie Harvey Environment Desk — data journalist Laurine Lassalle’s coverage of the combined impacts of the pandemic scrambling the market for beef plus the drought — took home second place in the Best Business News/Feature Story. And the landmark investigation by Water Desk Editor Heather Sackett about the market for water rights on the Western Slope won a second-place award for Best Editorial Collaboration, as it was co-bylined by KUNC’s Colorado basin reporter Luke Runyon and produced as part of a series about water issues with The Nevada Independent and Phoenix public radio station KJZZ.
Outside of Thursday’s award announcement, we kept up our sustained coverage this week of the Marble OHV overuse situation as well as the long road ahead facing the idea of protecting the Crystal River with a federal Wild & Scenic designation. Catch up on all the news below, and thanks for your support of Aspen Journalism.
— Curtis Wackerle, editor
Aspen Journalism’s reporting wins three awards from the Colorado Press Association
By Brent Gardner-Smith | May 21, 2021
Our newsroom’s work covering nonresident COVID-19 cases, the market for western water rights and how ranchers fared in a difficult year was recognized by industry peers in the 2020 Colorado Better News Media Contest.
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OHV authorization will continue near Marble, but clock is ticking
By Curtis Wackerle | May 19, 2021
While the commissioners did not enact a de facto moratorium on OHV, ATV and UTV traffic on the county road leading to the Lead King Loop, the discovery a language error in a county resolution served to elevate the issue.
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Crystal River Wild & Scenic advocates hope to learn from the past
By Heather Sackett | May 17, 2021
Experts say the main reason there is opposition from water managers to Wild & Scenic in Colorado is not fear of a federal land grab, but the shortage of water in an arid state that is only getting drier with climate change.
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