Colorado Newsline Wins 9 Awards In Society Of Professional Journalists Contest

By Newsline staff, Colorado Newsline

April 23, 2023

Colorado Newsline took home nine awards, including four for first place, during a Society of Professional Journalists Colorado Pro Chapter reception at The Slate hotel in Denver on Saturday.

The chapter’s 2023 Top of the Rockies journalism contest included more than 1,750 entries from more than 100 news outlets and freelancers from Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah. The number of entries this year was a 12% increase from 2022.

“We are pleased to see so many news media outlets competing in Top of the Rockies,” Deb Hurley Brobst, the contest’s coordinator, said in a statement. “We are seeing top-notch journalism from journalists throughout the region, no matter what the staff size.”

Newsline, a nonprofit, nonpartisan outlet that launched in 2020 and is based in Denver, competed in the contest’s small newsroom category.

This is what Newsline’s journalists won:

Chase Woodruff, senior reporter

First place, education: news, for Conspiracy theories, homophobia fuel backlash to academic standards update

Second place, ag and environment: news, for Drill baby drill? Colorado oil producers have nearly 3,000 approved permits

Third place, politics: news, for With a fortune built on government contracts, O’Dea crusades against ‘reckless’ spending

Lindsey Toomer, reporter

Third place, health: news, for Abortions in Colorado increase 33% following Dobbs decision

Zoe Schacht, intern

First place, enterprise reporting, for Public money supports conservative Colorado lobbying group through membership dues

First place, health: news, for Crisis pregnancy centers in Colorado steer patients away from abortion providers

Quentin Young, editor

First place, news column, for It was reckless for Polis to root for crypto

Second place, news column, for Fear of a Marshall Fire at Rocky Flats is real

Third place, breaking news story, for Eyewitness to Marshall Fire origin recounts scene like a ‘war zone’

Democracy functions only when people have access to reliable information about government and society. Colorado Newsline’s mission is to be a trusted source of such information. Newsline is nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent, and it provides fair and accurate reporting on politics, policy and other stories of interest to Colorado readers.