Vail Daily wins 16 awards, including big prize of best in class, in Colorado Press Association contest

For the second time in three years, the Vail Daily has been recognized as the best newspaper in its class in the state after claiming 16 awards in the annual Colorado Press Association journalism contest.

After claiming 14 individual awards in the categories of editorial, advertising and photography/design for its work in 2023, the Vail Daily was awarded General Excellence and Editorial Excellence honors.

The awards were handed out Saturday in Northglenn to close out the Colorado Press Association’s 146th annual convention. Of the 14 individual awards, 12 were for first place and two were for second place.

The General Excellence honor is given to the best in class across all three contest categories, while Editorial Excellence is given to the newsroom in its classification whose work stands out as the best among that year’s entries.

The Vail Daily claimed its first General Excellence award in 2022.

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“Our team is committed to doing quality work every day to serve readers, advertisers, and the community,” said Mark Wurzer, the Vail Daily’s publisher. “Thanks to our readers and advertisers for their engagement. We don’t do our work for awards, but the peer recognition is a good testament to our team and their good work.”

The Vail Daily competes in Class 2 against daily publications with similar circulation figures.

The Vail Daily’s awards recipients are:

Editorial

• Best Editorial Special Section, first place: Wren Bova, Malisa Samsel, Sandie Aveil, Mark Bricklin, Brenda Himelfarb, Brent Bingham for Vail Valley Magazine
• Best Humorous Column Writing, first place: Jay Wissot
• Best Investigative Story Package, first place: John LaConte for “Investigation into officer’s arrest reveals internal investigation into another officer at the Vail Police Department”
• Best Opinion Writing, first place: Mark Lewis
• Best Social Justice or Equity Reporting, first place: Ali Longwell for “Just living authentically is a bit of resistance”
• Best Sports Column Writing, first place: Nate Peterson for “Notes on GOATs”
• Best Sports or Sports Event Story, first place: Ryan Sederquist for “Battle Mountain gets revenge, wins 4A soccer crown”

Advertising

• Best Advertising Campaign, first place: Jordan Lugibihl, Gretchen Lentz, Tony Mauro for Kind Bike & Skis
• Best Advertising Campaign, second place: Jordan Lugibihl, Mikayla Walsh, Emily Peterson for Novus Glass
• Best Digital Ad, first place: Gretchen Lentz, Emily Peterson for Capital Roofing

Photo and Design

• Best Cover Design, first place: Wren Bova, Dominique Taylor, Carly Arnold for EAT Magazine
• Best Feature Photograph, first place: Chris Dillmann for “Ice Cold Focus”
• Best Page Design, first place: Amanda Swanson for “Shiffrin crown”
• Best Page Design, second place: Amanda Swanson for “Women of jazz”