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KUNC Staff Wins Top Honors at Colorado Press Awards

CRNC President & CEO Tammy Terwelp and Senior Managing Editor and Reporter Stephanie Daniel pose for a photo at the Colorado Broadcasters Association Awards on April 22, 2023 after Daniel received her first place award for her podcast The Colorado Dream.
Jennifer Coombes
/
KUNC
CRNC President & CEO Tammy Terwelp and Senior Managing Editor and Reporter Stephanie Daniel pose for a photo at the Colorado Broadcasters Association Awards on April 22, 2023 after Daniel received her first place award for her podcast The Colorado Dream.

KUNC journalists were honored with several regional awards Saturday night at the annual Top of the Rockies and Colorado Broadcasters Association award ceremonies, including top honors for podcasting and political news.

In all, KUNC journalists won five individual awards, as well as First and Second Place awards for work done in partnership with colleagues at The Boulder Reporting Lab.

“KUNC has one of the best news teams in public radio,” said Michael Arnold, KUNC’s chief audience and content officer. “We are so happy to see that our colleagues at the Society of Professional Journalists and the Colorado Broadcasters Association agree. We're grateful to our listeners for making this all possible.”

Senior Managing Editor and Reporter Stephanie Daniel walks across the stage with her First Place in Podcasting Award at the Colorado Broadcasters Association Awards on April 22, 2023 at the Ritz Carlton in downtown Denver.
Jennifer Coombes
Senior Managing Editor and Reporter Stephanie Daniel walked across the stage with her First Place in Best Radio Podcast Award at the Colorado Broadcasters Association Awards on April 22, 2023 at the Ritz Carlton in downtown Denver. Daniel won for her work as host and producer of The Colorado Dream.

Stephanie Daniel, host and producer of The Colorado Dream podcast, received a First Place award in the Best Radio Podcast category at the Colorado Broadcasters Awards.

The podcast’s second season also was recognized with a Third Place award in the podcast division at the Top of the Rockies awards, which is organized by the Colorado chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The Colorado Dream podcastshares stories of Coloradans who are overcoming obstacles to create better lives for themselves and their families. This was its second season, and it focused on the Black immigrant experience in Aurora, as told through the eyes of one African immigrant.

"I'm incredibly proud of Stephanie for her commitment to this work,” said KUNC President and CEO Tammy Terwelp. “Journalism like this takes an incredible amount of dedication. She never wavered from putting in whatever it took to do justice to the story.”

KUNC Investigative Reporter Scott Franz also received a Top of the Rockies First Place award in the Political News Reporting category. Franz was recognized for his ongoing investigation into a secret survey system being used by the Colorado Legislature to help decide the fate of legislation.

Franz is a veteran political reporter and part the station’s new investigative unit, KUNC’s Northern Colorado Center for Investigative Reporting (NCCIR). The center is dedicated to investigating topics, issues and stories of concern to the people of Northern Colorado.

Robyn Vincent also is a reporter for KUNC’s investigative unit. Vincent and The Boulder Reporting Lab were recognized with a Top of the Rockies First Place award in the small newsroom Public Service category, and a Second Place award in the Enterprise Reporting category for a collaborative project that focused on survivors of the 2021 Marshall Fire.

Senior Editor and Reporter Leigh Paterson
Rural and Small Communities Reporter Rae Solomon

The team’s reporting uncovered the stories and struggles of people whose homes were damaged by the fire but not destroyed. The journalists also worked with graduate students from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

Several other KUNC journalists also were honored for their work in 2022.

Senior Editor and Reporter Leigh Paterson earned a Second Place award at the Top of the Rockies in the General Reporting category for a series of stories about the survivors of the Marshall Fire called, “From the Ashes.”

Paterson told the stories of three fire survivors and the salvaged items they found in the rubble. Paterson worked in collaboration with The Boulder Reporting Lab’s Eli Imadali, who took photographs of the survivors and their keepsakes.

Also recognized with a Second Place award at Top of the Rockies was Rae Solomon, who won in the Agriculture and Environmental Feature category.

Solomon is KUNC’s rural and small communities reporter. Her story focused on Colorado farmers who are battling anative insect called the sawfly, which is flattening their wheat fields.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our reporters, editors and producers and the work they do each day,” said Sean Corcoran, KUNC’s executive news director. “This is vital, community-focused work being done by an amazing team of people dedicated to exploring the issues and stories that are important to the people in Northern Colorado.”

KUNC is a community-licensed public radio station that provides free news, arts and culture coverage to audiences in Northern Colorado. Its mission is to cultivate the mind, to inspire and entertain, and to strengthen the community. KUNC is funded primarily by listeners.