Please forgive our bragging, but we’re so proud of our reporters and artists that we just couldn’t keep this to ourselves.
On Friday, April 14, Boulder Weekly took home 40 awards at the Society of Professional Journalists’ “Top of the Rockies” contest. The contest is primarily aimed at newspapers and magazines, but also has categories for television, radio and online publications. The contest is open to all news organizations in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah.
BW competed in the 30,000 to 75,000 print circulation category where it won 12 first-place honors along with 17 second-place and 11 third-place awards, more than any other news organization in the region.
First-place awards went to Weekly editor Joel Dyer in the News Column category for his “DyerTimes” columns; the top award in Agricultural: Enterprise went to Caitlin Rockett for her coverage of Boulder’s ongoing GMO controversy in “Decision time… again;” Christi Turner won Agriculture: General Reporting for her examination of Hemp regulations in “Just another plant;” Claire Woodcock won for Education: General Reporting for her expose on PCBs in schools in “PCBs in Colorado Public Schools;” Max Heidt won the Science: General Reporting category for his examination of global warming’s impact on the sport of ice climbing in “Gimme the cold shoulder;” Travis Metcalfe won Science: Enterprise Reporting for his ongoing series “Lab Notes;” The A&E: Criticism award went to Dave Kirby for his “Music Criticism” (Dave’s been writing music for BW since its first issue 24 years ago); The best A&E single story in the region was penned by Amanda Moutinho for her profile of chalk artist Bryce Widom in “Erasing creation;” The ever-entertaining Tom Winter won the Sports: Columns category for his ski coverage; Not to be outdone in sports, Amanda Moutinho picked up the Sports: Enterprise Reporting top honor for her profile of a nonprofit trying to change biking for women in Afghanistan in “Two-wheeled revolution;” the Weekly editorial staff all shared the top honor for Special Section with their BW anniversary issue that profiled everyday people in Boulder County making a difference for good; and art director Sue France (BW’s longest tenured employee) won the Single Page Design category for her “Tourist in Aisle Three” layout in John Lehndorff’s Nibbles section.
And now for our second place awards. Angela K. Evans, Investigative/Enterprise Reporting for her groundbreaking look at immigration abuses in “Opposite of America;” Amanda Moutinho, A&E: Criticism for her “Theater Criticism” (she points out that this gives BW the best Music and Theater criticism in our four-state region); Amanda Moutinho, A&E: Enterprise Reporting for “We’re all freaks, together;” Amanda Moutinho (now getting a big head), Science: Enterprise Reporting for “The science of justice;” Angela K. Evans, Health: Enterprise Reporting for “What went wrong with Colorado Health Co-op;” Joel Dyer, News Photography for his work in “Dispatches from Standing Rock;” Susan France, Feature Photography for her photo essay of a roller-skating single mom in “Ain’t too hard for me to jam;” Caitlin Rockett and Amanda Moutinho, Breaking News Story for “Fire blazes through Nederland, neighbors open doors;” Caitlin Rockett, Environment: General Reporting for her look at how coal mining still threatens Colorado wilderness in “Roadless?;” Sarah Hass, Agriculture: Enterprise for “2016 could be the year for industrial hemp;” Matt “the boomerang” Cortina, Environment: Enterprise Reporting for “Colorado’s role in California’s Porter Ranch disaster;” Billy Singleton, Agricultural: General reporting for “New exhibit plants viewers in the world of seeds;” Matt “I’m returning to the Weekly soon” Cortina, Education: Enterprise reporting for “The politics of ESSA;” Betsy Welch, Sports: Enterprise Reporting for “Still on the Trail;” Sarah Hass, Legal: Enterprise Reporting for her in-depth examination that took her all the way to the U.N. in search of explaining Colorado’s role in ending the infamous War of Drugs in “Crossing the Threshold,” Emma Murray, Sports: Columns for her coverage of rock climbing; and wrapping up our second-place awards, Christi Turner, Sports: General Reporting for her look at an organization that helps people battle cancer through outdoor adventure in “Outliving it.”
And finally, Boulder Weekly won these third-place honors: Angela K. Evans, Science: General Reporting for “Our last Moment to Act;” Angela K. Evans, News Reporting-Single Story for “Hazardous consequences” a look at a potentially dangerous train crossing; Angela K. Evans, Environment: Enterprise Reporting for “Paying the price” her look at environmental activists who have become targets of violence; Angela K. Evans, Legal: Enterprise Reporting for “Time to revisit Boulder’s controversial camping ban;” Joel Dyer, Politics: General Reporting for “Back to the future,” a look at the 2016 presidential election through the lens of a 20-year-old interview with now-deceased historian Howard Zinn; Joel Dyer, Politics: Enterprise Reporting for “The new harvest of rage,” his examination of the economic roots of the growing antigovernment sentiment in rural America; Caitlin Rockett, Sports: Enterprise Reporting for her profile of a running advocate who is out to teach people that anyone can change their lives for the better in “Born again runner;” Mollie Putzig, Agriculture: Enterprise for “Lightening the load for organic certification;” Christi Turner, Business: Enterprise Reporting for “A compelling reason to ride;” Christi Turner, Agriculture: General Reporting for “Boulder’s sustainable stake in global palm oil;” and last but not least in the third place awards universe is the Boulder Weekly editorial staff, Special Section for our comprehensive coverage of the Conference on World Affairs.
Congratulations to all of our winners who continue to provide Boulder Weekly readers with important, informative, award-winning content week after week. Thanks for reading us. Everything we do, we do for you.
