The Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors (ACRE) recognized Colorado Confidential with two national awards for excellence in statehouse news reporting this week.
Leslie Robinson won a first place prize for commentary in the online news division.
A collaborative effort led by Jason Bane and Cara DeGette, Nancy Watzman, and Wendy Norris won a third place nod for single story, online news division. Robinson was cited for her feature series on a Canadian-born elderly woman’s experience navigating the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and a first-hand account of the oil-shale bust on the Western Slope.
Winning it’s second journalism award, Trailhead to Nowhere was a breaking investigative story on a series of curious financial transactions between Colorado-based 527 political committees. The story was widely cited in the media and spurred greater scrutiny of political fundraising and campaign finance violations during the 2006 election cycle.
Congratulations to Rocky Mountain Radio’s Bente Birkeland, the only other Colorado news outlet cited by ACRE, for its second place award in radio beat reporting.
The Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors was formed in 1999 following a conference in Denver sponsored by the Pew Center on the States and Stateline.org to build a resource for statehouse-based journalists.
Charles Ashby, statehouse reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain, serves as the group’s national treasurer.