By Betsy Model, President
NM Journalists ROCK!
Land of Enchantment Journalists Nab 19 Awards
in 2009-2010 Top of the Rockies Competition
The past twelve months have been pretty amazing for New Mexico’s journalists and some serious celebrating is in order! First, the Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande Chapter – defunct for 24 years – came alive with a bang and is now one of the fastest growing chapters in the country. Then, this past winter, more New Mexico journalists submitted entries into the Top of the Rockies competition than ever before and….we won more awards than ever before!
The Top of the Rockies is an annual competition that judges journalistic work from professionals in four states; Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico. This year, New Mexican professionals submitted fifty-five entries in a wide variety of divisions and categories and we claimed a whopping nineteen awards. For this coming year we’re excited to announce that our new chapter members in West Texas will also be able to enter the competition and we look forward to taking home even more in 2011.
Congratulations go out to a whole lot of folks so let’s get to who actually rocked the Rockies in this friendly little war of words…
In Division A News Reporting, Hailey Heinz of the Albuquerque Journal took first place for her piece “If the System Worked He Wouldn’t Be Dead.” In the same category, Vic Vela, also from the Albuquerque Journal, took an Honorable Mention for “Holy Rebellion.”
Still in Division A, Leslie Linthicum of the Albuquerque Journal tied with another entrant for an honorable mention in the Personal Columns category and D’Val Westphal of the Albuquerque Journal took first place in the Editorials category. Richard Metcalf at the Albuquerque Journal took home two honors, third place in Business Reporting for “Eclipse Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy” and first place in the Business Feature category for “Collateral Damage.” Not to be outdone at the Journal, Winthrop Quigley took first place in the Business Column category for “For Sake of Argument, Stick To the Facts.”
A big congratulations to the Albuquerque Journal for so many wins in Division A entries!
In Division B, the Santa Fe New Mexican scored three wins with Jason Auslander taking first place in the Breaking News category for “Burglars Flee Trail of Bullets,” Julie Ann Grimm taking first place in the Political Reporting category with “Transfer Tax Showdown” and Staci Matlock taking second place in Science/Environment/Healthcare Reporting with “Tracing Water’s Hidden Journey.”
In the Sports Photography category, Dan Vukelich, publisher of Sun Country Golf Magazine, nailed second place with “Missing Right.”
In Division C, Joe Kolb, Publisher of the Gallup Herald, rocked the boat with three awards; an honorable mention in News Reporting for “Searching for Talamate,” an honorable mention tie with another entrant in Investigative Reporting for “Could DUI Have Been Prevented?” and a second place for Sports Reporting in “Questionable Decision.”
In a brand new Top of the Rockies category, “Citizen Journalist of the Year,” freelance writer and editor David Brown took first place for his blog post on the presidential elections, “On the Campaign Trail with the McCains.” His blog is at www.starphoenixbase.com.
And last but not least, yet another publisher scored multiple wins – four of ’em! – in Division C categories. David Fryxell, publisher of Desert Exposure, took first place in Investigative Reporting for “Scout’s Honor,”second place in the Personal Column category for “Continental Divide,” second place in the Editorial category for “Editor’s Notebook” and first place in Political Reporting for “Pirates of the Roundhouse.”