Vail Daily wins 10 awards in four-state Top of the Rockies contest

Journalists at the Vail Daily won 10 awards, including four first-place finishes, in the 2024 Top of the Rockies Excellence in Journalism competition. The honors were revealed Saturday night in Denver at the closing reception for the annual convention hosted by the Colorado Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The Top of the Rockies competition includes more than 80 media outlets from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming. Members of the Los Angeles Press Club judged the competition and selected the winners from more than 1,850 entries.

The Vail Daily competes in the “medium newsrooms” category. The newsroom’s 10 awards were the third-most in its category, with WyoFile — a statewide website that covers people, places and policy in Wyoming — claiming 35 awards. Colorado Politics — a subscriber-only website and newspaper designed for public policy arena professionals in Colorado — claimed 15 awards.

“We don’t do the work we do to win awards, we do it to inform our community and to hold power to account,” said Vail Daily editor Nate Peterson. “That said, the recognition for all the hard work that we did in 2024 is rewarding. We’re grateful to be recognized by our peers, and to be able to do the work we do for our loyal readers.”

Ali Longwell, a regional reporter for the Vail Daily and its sister publications in Colorado, had a strong showing for her in-depth reporting on wildlife issues on the Western Slope.

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Her story looking back on the first year of the state’s wolf reintroduction efforts won first place for Best Agriculture and Environment Feature. The judge for the category wrote: “A very interesting and informative read that takes a fair look at both sides of the wolf population conversation.”

Longwell’s reporting on Proposition 127, which sought to ban big cat hunting in the state, also took first place in the Special Topic/Section category. “The animal lover cringed, the realist who knows populations must be managed was informed,” wrote the judge of the category. “The photos were terrific, allowing the reader to draw informed judgment that made this piece stand out.”

Amanda Swanson, the Vail Daily’s art director, won three awards in the design categories, which included a first-place award for Single Page Design and second-place awards for Information Graphic and Feature Page Design.

Peterson claimed a first-place award in the Obituary Writing category for his posthumous profile of Lily Demuth, who left her mark on the world before her sudden death at 24.

Vail Daily reporter Zoe Goldstein won two awards. She claimed second place in the News Reporting- Single Story category for her deadline reporting on a Gypsum man, who, fearing for his life, killed a troublesome bear that had eluded wildlife officials when it surprised him at his home. The killing was legally justified, according to an investigation by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Goldstein also took third place in the Legal News category for her reporting on the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the town of Vail on behalf of Danielle SeeWalker, an Indigenous artist, after the town abruptly canceled her anticipated 2024 Artist in Residence program.

Vail Daily reporter John LaConte won a second-place award in the Legal Feature category for his investigation into whether a water course running through a proposed development in Beaver Creek was a creek or a ditch. The development hinged on the answer.

Vail Daily Sports Editor Ryan Sederquist won third place in the Sports Column category for his opinion piece titled, “Federica Brignone shows what it means to be a true champion at Birds of Prey World Cup.”