Awards For Excellence
GPHN Wins Top Honors In Sustained Coverage, Columns, Photos
It’s awards season, and we’re pleased as all get-out to announce we’ve brought home seven journalism awards for excellence from the Colorado Press Association’s annual competition.
First Place News: Fairfax Land Swap Deal
Cara DeGette
Greater Park Hill News received top honors for sustained and investigative news coverage of last year’s Fairfax Park land swap deal.
The sustained coverage, over a period of more than a year, detailed the park land deal that was brokered, out of public view, by Denver Councilman Chris Herndon and top officials of the city’s Parks and Recreation department with the developer of the Park Hill Commons project on Fairfax Street between 28th and 29th. The controversy created bitter rifts among many Park Hill residents. The main story and timeline about the project, “Pitting Neighbor Against Neighbor,” was published on May 1, 2018.
This was what judges had to say about the first place entry: “Everything was on point throughout the coverage – reporting, writing, presentation – crafting a clear picture and timeline of the questionable actions and the fallout.” One judge made this comment, about the investigative effort, which took second place: “Excellent, please keep it up.”
All the stories can be accessed at this link: greaterparkhill.org/Fairfax.
First Place: Column Writing
Raw Politics by Penfield Tate III
Penfield Tate III won first place in the serious column-writing category for his political column, Raw Politics. Tate, a former legislator, current candidate and longtime Park Hillian, put his column on hold at the end of 2018 when he decided to run for Mayor of Denver. This is what a judge had to say about Tate’s insights: “Great writing – like an insider! Full of speculation, which heightens my interest, with some logical thoughts about outcomes.”
Tate’s November, 2018 column, explaining why he decided to run for mayor, can be read at this link: greaterparkhill.org/2018/10/why-i-am-running-for-mayor-of-denver/
First Place: Photography Portfolio
Reid Neureiter
Put a camera in Park Hillian Reid Neureiter’s hand and he can do anything: His photos – capturing the highs and lows of high school sports to the ghouls of Halloween to fresh powder on a double-black diamond run to bicyclists coming tire-to-nose with mountain goats on the top of Mount Evans – appear every month in the newspaper. Here’s what one judge had to say about Neureiter’s variety of photos: “Really dynamic, out-of-the-way images, along with solid sports and feature imagery. It’s fun viewing [his] work. Really nice wildlife photography.”
First Place: Photo Essay
Cara DeGette, Reid Neureiter and Tommy Kubitsky
Photos from the January, 2018 Women’s March on Denver were shot by DeGette and Neureiter, and the pages were designed by art director Kubitsky. Here is one judge’s comment: “Park Hill News captured the essence of a colorful event in this photo essay. This entry tells a powerful story.” The photos can be seen at greaterparkhill.org/2018/02/womens-march-denver-2018/
Second Place: Education News
Lynn Kalinauskas
Kalinauskas burrowed down with the numbers while covering the 2018 Denver Public School Board races. The result was her Dec. 1 story, “A Wild Ride,” detailing how candidates with the most money actually lost their school board races. As one judge noted: “You can never go wrong when you follow the money and that is exactly what [Kalinauskas] did here. Excellent reporting!” Read the story at greaterparkhill.org/2017/11/a-wild-ride/
Second Place: Headline Writing
Cara DeGette
DeGette also received a second place nod in the Colorado Press competition for headline writing.
In April we were notified that additional awards are coming our way. We will share them in next month’s issue.
As we have noted in the past, it’s an honor and a compliment to be recognized for excellence by our peers. But more importantly, it’s rewarding to provide journalism that makes a difference in our community – whether it be uncovering messes at City Hall, or providing insights in politics, the environment, sports, arts and culture.
Many additional writers, photographers and columnists also contribute their impressive talents to the newspaper every month. Make sure to check out next month’s issue for more on that.
Thanks for reading.