Colorado Community Media won 13 awards, including nine first-place honors, in the Colorado Press Association's annual Better News Media Contest.
CCM's newspapers competed in Class 4, the classification for the state's largest nondaily publications. Work entered in the contest was published between Nov. 1, 2018 and Oct. 31, 2019. The winners were announced in early May.
Here's a look at CCM's awards:
Breaking news/deadline reporting — first place: Alex DeWind, Jessica Gibbs, David Gilbert, Ellis Arnold, Nick Puckett, for coverage of the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting.
Classified section — first place: Karen Earhart, Erin Franks, Tina Meltzer
Editorial special section (newsprint) — first place: David Gilbert, Shanna Fortier, Kayla Cornett, Alex DeWind, Joseph Rios, for “Columbine: 20 years later”
Editorial special section (glossy or magazine) — second place: Scott Andrews, Erin Franks, Glenn Wallace, Christy Steadman, Shanna Fortier, for “The Golden Guide 2019”
Editorial writing — second place: Ann Macari Healey, for “Hope amid grief”
Headline writing — first place: Chris Rotar, for “Slow his row” and other headlines
Informational graphic — first place: Kayla Cornett, for “Policing the suburbs” (page 8)
Photo essay — second place: Stefan Brodsky, for “Honoring veterans”
Series — first place: Christy Steadman, Casey Van Divier, Glenn Wallace, for “Jefferson Parkway”
Serious column writing — second place: Ann Macari Healey, for “The gift of a lifetime”
Sports column writing — first place: Jim Benton, for “Overtime”
Story/picture combination — first place: David Gilbert, for “Protests converge outside immigrant detention facility”
Sustained coverage — first place: Alex DeWind, Jessica Gibbs, for coverage of the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting
CCM's coverage of the STEM School tragedy also earned three awards (first-, second- and third-place honors) last month in the Society of Professional Journalists' four-state Top of the Rockies contest.