Colorado Community Media sta wins 8 awards

SPJ competition featured news from four states

Colorado Community Media sta netted eight awards during the annual Top of the Rockies contest hosted by the Society for Professional Journalists, or SPJ, in downtown Denver on April 22.

With 24 newspapers across the Front Range, CCM reporters competed in the “Large Newsroom” category, which included larger publications and outlets from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.

CCM had two rst-place honors. Evergreen reporter Deb Hurley Brobst took the top honors in the category of Obit Reporting for her article on Mandi Evans, who “gave more to the community than great food.”

South Metro Editor elma Grimes took rst place in the Mental Health writing category for a series she and two high school interns wrote in 2022. e “Need to Succeed” series broke down how the combination of college costs, social media and parent and societal expectations is costing kids their childhoods.

Several CCM sta members won second-place honors.

Luke Zarzecki took second place in the Feature: Long Form category for his story titled, “Uprooting the