Gazette family of papers rakes in 64 awards at 2025 Colorado Press Association Better News Contest – Colorado Politics
Print Edition
The Gazette family of newspapers won 64 awards in the Colorado Press Association’s annual Better News Contest — a whopping 36 more than the three papers collectively won last year.
Colorado Politics raked in 27, The Colorado Springs Gazette took home 21 and The Denver Gazette brought in 16.
Of those, 26 were first-place awards — 11 for Colorado Politics, 10 for The Colorado Springs Gazette and five for The Denver Gazette.
Marianne Goodland, Michael Braithwaite, David Williams, Michael Karlik, Marissa Ventrelli and Thelma Grimes were among first-place winners for Colorado Politics for columns and reporting on politics, energy, environment, social justice, agriculture and health.
Michael Hayes took home two first-place awards for cover and page design for Colorado Politics, and Rachael Wright, Ernest Luning and Luige Del Puerto were also among Colorado Politics winners.
Seth Boster won first place for environmental reporting, while The Colorado Springs Gazette staff won first place for an editorial special section. Stefani Rackley, Michelle Thomsen, Jerry Herman, O’Dell Isaac, Gina Pietramale, Nick Smith, Samantha Thomas, Eric Young, Kelly Spieker, Adam Harris and Yvonne Ramos brought in first place awards for ads and ad campaigns and Dale Dimitri, Samantha Thomas and Jerilee Bennett raked in first place awards for page design and photography.
Jennifer Mulson, Brent Briggeman, Cat Kammerer, Christian Murdock and Sarah Warrendar also took home awards for work with The Colorado Springs Gazette.
Among Denver Gazette first-place winners were Mark Samuelson, Chris Osher, Evan Wyloge, David Migoya and John Moore for column writing and reporting on business, politics and data journalism.
Other staff who won awards for work featured in The Denver Gazette included Laurel Foster, Carol McKinley, Michael Braithwaite, Bernadette Berdychowski, Kyle Fredrickson, Deborah Grigsby, Paul Klee and Cat Kammerer.
Michael Braithwaite was also awarded the CPA Rising Star Award, which recognizes a candidate’s commitment to their news organization, potential as a future leader, passion for the industry and contribution to the future success of the industry.
The full list of awards is below.
Reporter
News
Vince Bzdek
vince.bzdek@gazette.com
Updated 1 day ago
By Vince Bzdek What exactly is courage? Ernest Hemingway famously called it grace under pressure. Mark Twain wrote that “courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.” C.S. Lewis refined that even more: “Courage is…
News
Eric Sondermann
eric-sondermann@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
America’s tribalism is such these days that we struggle to even agree on the basic rules. Elections have always been hotly contested. As the saying goes, “Politics ain’t beanbag.” The process has long involved elements of nastiness and underhanded conduct….
News
Rachael Wright, Special to Colorado Politics
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
CoPo’s weekly political calendar will help you find political and public-policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances,…
News
Rachael Wright, Special to Colorado Politics
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
Forty-five years ago this week: “I know that my name has been placed before the Secretary of Education, and I know that I’m one of three or four being considered for the Department of Education’s Region 8,” said state Rep….
News
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
A ballot initiative that would require voters to include additional information on mail-in ballots has qualified for the November election, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Backed by El Paso County Treasurer Chuck Broerman and former Deputy Secretary of…
News
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
A system update accidentally lifted protections on confidential records in Colorado, exposing dozens of voters’ personal information, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. The limit that normally blocks access to confidential voter profiles was inadvertently disabled during an update…
News
Scott Weiser
scott.weiser@gazette.com
Updated 2 days ago
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission will take public comment at the start of every commissioner’s weekly meeting beginning Sept. 9 as part of its new transparency mandate, the commission announced, expanding a slot previously limited to the second Wednesday of…
News
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 1 day ago
In a rare decision by all 12 of its full-time judges, the Denver-based federal appeals court ruled in a lopsided vote on Friday that one of its members created a sentencing process for probation violators that was out of step…
News
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 1 day ago
A federal judge concluded last week that a Colorado Springs police officer could not be held liable for shooting a suspect three times after the man menaced two victims with a gun and fled the scene. Al’morion Germany was involved…
News
Claire Carter
claire.carter@washingtonexaminer.com
Updated 2 days ago
Will Freeman wasn’t looking to start a national movement when he launched DeFlock after noticing Flock Safety’s automatic license plate readers along the side of the road. The software engineer was driving across the country in 2024 when the cameras…
PREV
PREVIOUS
By Vince Bzdek What exactly is courage? Ernest Hemingway famously called it grace under pressure. Mark Twain wrote that “courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.” C.S. Lewis refined that even more: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but acting despite it.” Is there a particular kind of […]
Colorado Politics is proudly powered by WordPress
Welcome to the Denver Gazette
Subscribe to stay up to date with all things Colorado.
Streak: 9 days i
Stories you’ve missed since your last login:
Stories you’ve saved for later:
Recommended stories based on your interests:
About Us
Colorado Politics is published both in print and online. Our website features subscriber-only news stories daily, designed for public policy arena professionals. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday.
Transparency In Coverage
Terms Of Service | Subscription Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Secure your subscription to Colorado’s premier political news journal, in continuous publication since 1898. You can be in the know right alongside Colorado’s political insiders. Want the real scoop? Subscribe to Colorado Politics today!
© 2026 Colorado Politics
