OUR WORLD — For the third straight year, the World Journal has been named the best newspaper in its class in the 2023 Colorado Press Association Better News Media Competition.
Once again, the World Journal bested the state’s largest weekly newspapers – including Denver’s Westword, Colorado Politics, the Villager (Greenwood Village), and The Weekly Register Call (Idaho Springs) – to take the top honors.
The World Journal also received the sweepstakes award for best use of photos and design.
The awards were announced Saturday night, at the conclusion of the CPA’s annual convention in Denver.
Unrelated to the contest, Mark Craddock was elected to a two-year term on the Colorado Press Association Board of Directors during the convention.
Individually, World Journal staff members received 26 awards for work done in 2022, judged this year by the New York Press Association.
Mark Craddock led the way with an unprecedented 17 awards – the most ever won by an individual in a contest year, according to CPA archives — spanning eight reporting categories, three photo categories and two design categories.
Geri Ugolini-Craddock received five awards for photojournalism – half of the total photo honors awarded this year.
Collectively, the husband-and-wife duo of Mark and Geri won all but one photo award bestowed in their class this year.
Eric Mullens won two
editorial awards, including breaking-news reporting and opinion writing.
Columnist Ken Saydak won one award for serious column writing.
Co-Publisher/Art Director Brian Orr won one award for best house ad and Co-Publisher/Editor Gretchen Sporleder-Orr shared a page-design award with Craddock.
World Journal reaction
“Well, obviously, I should have won a lot more awards,” co-publisher Brian Orr groused, after carrying away a total of 23 cumulative awards for his newspaper. “It was pretty clear the Fix was in.”
“Don’t listen to him,” co-publisher Gretchen Sporleder-Orr retorted, shoving Brian to the back row. “We are so thrilled to see our hard work acknowledged by our peers in the business. This absolutely could not have happened without everyone’s hard efforts.”
list of awards
Following is a comprehensive breakdown of this year’s awards:
Brian Orr – one award
* Best House Ad, 1st place: “Be An Original.”
Eric Mullens – two awards
* Breaking News Reporting, 2nd place: “Pueblo SWAT called in to assist in DV standoff,” June 23, 2022.
* Opinion Writing, 2nd place: “Walsenburg Council drives latest top executive to resign – again,” Dec. 29, 2022
Ken Saydak – one award
* Best Serious Column, 2nd place” “What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding?” Oct. 20, 2022.
Geri Ugolini-Craddock – five awards
* Best Feature Photo, 1st place: “Youth soccer, winners and losers” Nov. 3, 2022.
Best Feature Photo: 2nd place: “Santa and child,” Dec. 29, 2022.
* Best Sports Photo, 2nd place: “John Mall wrestling,” Feb. 10, 2022.
* Photoessay, 1st place: “Pumpkin carving at the Mercantile,” Oct. 26, 2022.
* Photo Portfolio, 2nd place
Mark Craddock – 17 awards
Editorial:
* Business Reporting, 2nd place: “Astro tourism advocates see bright future in darkness,” June 2, 2022.
* Education Reporting, 2nd place: “Pathways reimagines what high school education should be,” April 21, 2022.
* Environmental Reporting 2nd place: “Water gadfly accuses state water commissioner of ‘clear conflict,’” March 3, 2022.
* Headline Writing, 1st place: “Eyes on the sky, feet on the ground, dollars in the till,” June 2, 2022.
* Health Reporting, 1st place: “Years after opioid crisis crests, overdose deaths are still high,” Feb. 24 2022.
* Best News Story, 1st place: “Walsenburg council on best behavior in shadow of recall,” Nov. 17, 2022.
* Best News Story, 2nd place: “State senate candidate has violent criminal past,” July 21, 2022.
* Opinion Writing, 1st place: “A crisis 40 years in the making,” Sept. 1, 2022.
* Best Series, 1st place: “Huerfano RE-1 school board controversy,” early 2022.
Photo and design:
* Best Informational graphic, 1st place: “Winter Sports Schedules,” Dec. 8, 2022.
* Best informational graphic, 2nd place: “Drug-overdose deaths, 2000-2022,” Feb. 24, 2022.
* Page Design, 1st place: “Winter Sports Schedules,” Dec. 8, 2022.
* Page Design, 2nd place (with Grethcen Sporleder-Orr): “Sports Page: Battle of the Cats,” Sept. 13, 2022.
* Best News Photo, 1st place: “VOTE,” March 10 2022.
* Best News Photo, 2nd place: “New school groundbreaking,” Aug. 18, 2022.
* Best Sports Photo, 1st place: “John Mall invitational track meet,” May 12, 2022.
* Photo Portfolio, 1st place.
Overall Newspaper Awards
General Excellence – Newspaper Class 7
Sweepstakes – Best photo and design – Newspaper Class 7
