07-04-2025
Source NM staffers win at Top of the Rockies annual competition
Source NM took home nine awards from the annual Top of the Rockies Excellence in Journalism competition from the Colorado Professional Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists.
The winners were announced Saturday night at at a reception following the conclusion of the four-state 2025 SPJ Region 9 Conference: Fundamentals and the Future at The Slate Hotel in Denver, and included journalists from New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, competing in different size divisions. Contest organizers said the competition drew more than 1,850 entries from 80 news media outlets and 20 freelancers. The Los Angeles Press Club judged this year's contest.
'The competition continues to grow each year, and we are honored to highlight outstanding journalism throughout the four-state region,' contest coordinator Deb Hurley Brobst said in a statement. 'These are hard-working journalists who deserve recognition of their efforts.'
Source, which competes in the medium-size news division, won two first-place awards. Reporter Danielle Prokop took first in the science and technology news category for her story on legacy plutonium contamination in Los Alamos.
'The plutonium story, well written and also a tad scary, took a topic that's mostly absent from mainstream media and turned it into something we should pay attention to,' the judges wrote. 'Well written, nice graphics/photos augmenting the words.'
Source reporter Patrick Lohmann took first place in the legal feature category for his story on the federal government's efforts to squash a lawsuit over the deaths of three people who died in post-fire flooding that followed the The Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire.
'This fascinating story takes a look at people left in legal limbo by the federal government and how the system is failing them,' the judges wrote. 'Exactly the kind of story that makes superb watchdog journalism.'
Source also won four second-place awards and three third-place awards:
Second place:
Ag and environmental news, Austin Fisher: 'NM animal health experts update fair guidance to include high-quality masks'
Climate reporting, Patrick Lohmann, Byard Duncan, Adria Malcolm: 'They lost everything in New Mexico's biggest wildfire. Now they're sounding the alarm for others'
Legal news, Patrick Lohmann: 'After federal judge's order, NM fire victims should seek to describe their anguish, lawyer says'
Headline writing, Patrick Lohmann: 'Oh, the germaneity!'
Third place:
Investigative reporting, Austin Fisher: 'Texas activists pushed abortion restrictions in NM cities and counties'
Breaking news, Danielle Prokop: 'Views from the South Fork and Salt Fires at the Hondo Valley Allsup's'
Mental health news, Austin Fisher: 'Study: 95% of deaths in ICE detention between 2017-2021 could have been prevented'
