John Scarffe, Aurora. The Mountain-Ear won the Rising Star Award and five other awards during the 2019 Colorado Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. Results were announced on Saturday, April 13, at CPA’s 141st Annual Convention at the Hyatt Regency, in Aurora.
Sara Haas, in her first year as a reporter for The Mountain-Ear, received the Rising Star Award, given to up and coming journalists. Mountain-Ear Publisher Barbara Hardt nominated Sarah because she took something from everyday life and turned it into a weekly column.
That included sitting down at a breakfast counter, or a coffee shop or pub and meeting someone and finding their story, and she would often find stories that would never be told otherwise. “We get so caught up in covering the big stuff. We sometimes forget the little stuff. This was an awesome example of that,” Hardt said.
Attorney and Columnist Mark Cohen received an award for Best Humorous Column, for his February 22, 2018, column on the True Story of Snappy the Turtle and Trooper White. In the column, he wrote: “The absurdity of five over-educated middle-aged men using a Tiki torch to prod a giant turtle across a highway in rural Nebraska amused me.”
“It was even more amusing to Troy and my friends because they were enjoying what you might call a tequila sunrise. So, we were all laughing hard and a couple of the guys wanted to get photos of this turtle.
“It was about this time that the Trooper (remember the Trooper? This is a story about the Trooper), pulled in behind my SUV and activated his flashing lights.”
Sara Haas won an award for Best Feature Photograph for her Mountain Folk Tales column on October 18, 2018, called Anonymously Living in Magic. The late Barbara Lawlor, Valerie Alamillo, Hardt and Sebastian Buford won Best Photo Essay for Black Hawk with a Bang, in the July 12, 2018, edition.
The late Barbara Lawlor received Best Story and Picture, for Frozen Dead Guy Days Breaks Attendance, in the March 14, 2018, edition. The article covered about 14 pages with dozens of photos. She also received Best Photo Essay, for Celebrating Independence, in the July 12, 2018, edition.
The Colorado Press Association provides educational opportunities and resources for Colorado publications and advocates for its members to both the public and the legislature.
CPA is the trade association dedicated to the preservation, progression and modernization of Colorado’s newspaper and related industries. It is organized to represent the common interests of Colorado’s news organizations.
For more information go to http://coloradopressassociation.com/.
