Every year, the Colorado Press Association Awards dozens of newsrooms for their work in photography, environmental reporting, opinion, political reporting, and much, much more. The Sopris Sun, with its modest staff of seven, swept through the Class 5 category, bringing home 14 first places and six second place awards.
Sopris Sun Editor, Raleigh Burleigh, said his paper's model for content is unique, "by having a wide pool of freelance journalists, people taking photos, making art, and writing stories for the Sopris Sun that spans a big breadth of life experience."
The production of all of these original stories and the printing of a physical newspaper don't come cheap. And Burleigh says that during this challenging time for public media, they've been able to acquire significant grant funding.
"We recently received two grants, one for $50,000 and another for $20,000. One is about building towards sustainability. The other is for reaching underserved audiences, which is something we do through Sol del Valle, a weekly Spanish newspaper for the region that we're printing as well. That brings a lot of additional costs, but it is aligned with our mission."
Newspapers across the west are struggling to keep their doors open, but Burleigh believes that a collaborative effort is key to persisting through difficult times.
"Returning from the Colorado Press Association Conference, there's definitely a reckoning with the way that the news industry is being again disrupted, [this time] by artificial intelligence technologies. We're also seeing a continuing attack on journalism in general by the federal administration. And so it's a shaky time for journalism. This was the smallest of these conferences that I've attended in the past four years.
"...And at the same time, I think what's shining through is people's passion for journalism. I think it's rising to meet the occasion. We know it's good work, and I think the secret sauce for journalism in these times is collaboration."
The full list of the Sopris Sun's awards can be found at coloradopressassociation.com.
