The Ouray County Plaindealer earned 11 awards last weekend from the regional, four-state Society of Professional Journalists’ Top of the Rockies competition for the newspaper’s work in 2024.
The contest included more than 80 news media outlets, including print, radio and online publishers from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. This year’s competition included more than 1,850 entries and was judged by the Los Angeles Press Club.
The Plaindealer earned first place awards for:
• Solutions journalism, for Mike Wiggins’ coverage of the Swiss Village Mobile Home Park residents and their struggles to find a way to purchase the land their homes sit upon. Judges wrote, “A story about a threatened mobile home community helped save that community. The paper should be very proud of this journalism. No one else could have done it.”
• Obituary writing, for “Alpinist remembered by hometown friends,” which Report for America journalist Lia Salvatierra wrote about Michael Gardner. Judges wrote, “Lia Salvatierra captured the spirit of an alpinist who, like his father, lost his life in the mountains. Great writing and details.”
• Feature photography, for Erin McIntyre’s photo of ballet dancers backstage at Weehawken Dance’s production of “The Nutcracker.” Judges wrote, “A photo full of joy that celebrates dance and the arts in a surprisingly spontaneous way.”
• Social justice photography, for McIntyre’s photos of the Ouray County Pride celebration, featuring drag queen performances.
• Business feature, for “Fulfilling Pat’s dream,” a feature Wiggins wrote about Pat and Marti O’Leary’s project at the Old Firehouse in Ridgway. Judges wrote, “This colorful business feature on a widow’s work to fulfill her late husband’s dream is nicely written with the right mix of business details and human color.”
Judges awarded second place honors to Wiggins for one of his articles about the Swiss Village homeowners, “We can’t afford to lose this,” for social justice reporting.
Wiggins and McIntyre also earned a second place award for general reporting in a series for their ongoing coverage of the Ouray Police Department’s problems in 2024.
The Plaindealer earned third place awards for:
• Legal news, for Wiggins’ article “Judge sanctions DA in rape case,” one of several articles in the Plaindealer’s ongoing coverage of the sex assault case involving the former Ouray police chief’s home.
• Opinion columns by McIntyre, including one taking the city of Ouray to task for heavily redacted public records in a complaint filed against the police department, a column about Ouray City Councilor Peggy Lindsey’s threats to the newspaper, and a column about grudges held against the newspaper.
• Photo package, for McIntyre’s coverage of Ouray’s Fourth of July celebration.
• Obituary writing, for “She knew how to make people loved,” Wiggins’ coverage of former Ridgway Elementary School Principal Heidi Hanssen’s death.
“We’re honored to have the judges recognize what our readers already know – we work incredibly hard to bring quality journalism to a rural community,” Plaindealer co-publisher Erin McIntyre said. “Earning 11 awards for our work when we only had a staff reporter for half of the year is really something to be proud of. We believe even small places deserve quality journalism and we’re going to keep serving our readers.”
