GPHN Honored For Excellence In Journalism
By Cara DeGette, GPHN Editor
I am proud to announce that the Greater Park Hill News brought home three awards in this year’s Top of the Rockies regional journalism contest. The annual awards are sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, and this is the second year the newspaper has been honored for excellence in journalism.
The competition includes journalists working at daily, weekly and monthly newspapers in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The awards were announced in late April.
For the second year, Greater Park Hill Community board member Dave Felice won second place in news column writing. His column, City Matters, provides knowledgeable and yes, sometimes critical insights into the workings of Denver city government.
In addition, yours truly was awarded third place in the news feature category, for our August 1, 2015 story about Greater Park Hill leaders Tracey MacDermott and Heather Shockey’s longtime fight for the right to marry, and for LGBT rights in Colorado. MacDermott is currently the president of the board of governors of the registered neighborhood association; last year her wife Shockey was the recipient of the prestigious Babbs Award honoring her longtime commitment to Park Hill and volunteerism in our neighborhood.
Our third award was for news photography, for our images taken during the January, 2015 Martin Luther King, Jr. Marade. It was a year when people rose to protest a rash of killings of black men at the hands of the police nationwide, and the judges noted the importance of the story.
We extend kudos and congratulations to Jeffrey A. Roberts, who is also a frequent contributor to our newspaper, and to Alan Prendergast, a longtime writer for Westword. These fellow Park Hill residents were also honored for journalism excellence. Roberts, the executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, received a First Amendment special citation from SPJ for his work to keep government transparent.
All of our award-winning stories and columns can be read at the GPHN website at greaterparkhill.org
Being honored by our peers is a great feeling. It is important to recognize that all these pieces share a common element: they tackle subject matter that some find controversial. Challenging city hall can be daunting. Ditto addressing the reality of racial profiling and police abuse. Gays and lesbians have been fighting throughout history – indeed, are still fighting – for equal rights.
At their best, newspapers tackle tough subject matter. Here at the Greater Park Hill News, we blend sometimes-controversial subject matter and opinions with community news. Our talented contributors weigh in monthly on everything from what happening in our libraries, in our schools, in our gardens and parks, in our homes and businesses, tips for travel and advice for keeping our beloved pets happy and healthy.
Park Hill is fortunate to have a population that includes high-profile political activists, social justice advocates, civil libertarians and community leaders. Our neighbors run the gamut, from the intelligent to the creative to the curmudgeonly. Everyone is welcome to contribute to this newspaper and participate in democracy in action.
That said, we do have guidelines that enable us to continue a tradition of excellence. We will not publish letters that contain personal attacks on private individuals. As your editor, I respect the various, and sometimes provocative, opinions from neighbors. That said, I am committed to ensuring the information that appears in these pages is accurately presented. If you suspect a factual error in a news or commentary piece, please contact me to determine whether a correction is warranted (see below).
For letters to the editor, we give preference to those that address issues that have been covered in the newspaper, or topics that are Park Hill or Denver-specific. Letters should be 300 words or less and may be edited for space, as necessary. They should be sent to editor@greaterparkhill.org. Please include your full name, and the neighborhood in which you live. Deadlines are the 15th of each month, for the following month’s issue.
People who are interested in contributing a longer news story or commentary can contact me directly, at the same email address. Freelancers should also contact me for writer’s guidelines and to pitch news and feature stories, commentaries, and notices of upcoming events.
Thanks for contributing to the conversation, and thanks for your readership.
Correction: In last month’s Page 1 commentary by Dick Young about the retention pond planned for City Park Golf Course, there were two incorrect references to the Park Hill Golf Course. Though a portion of Park Hill Golf Course will also be impacted by the city’s stormwater plan, Mr. Young was specifically writing about his concerns about the impacts to City Park Golf Course. We regret the error.