Local journalists in Albuquerque and Santa Fe’s Ctrl+P Publishing were named among the best in New Mexico for breaking news, photography, business reporting, design and overall excellence in the New Mexico Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest held Oct. 26 at The Clyde Hotel in Downtown Albuquerque.
“In an era when so many big newspapers are walking away from smaller communities, we’re working to build a playbook for saving these papers by training new journalists to find stories big corporate news could never find,” said Pat Davis, founder and publisher of the Ctrl+P Publishing group, now the state’s largest publisher of New Mexico-owned weekly newspapers. “These awards show that there are great stories to tell across New Mexico and trusting journalists to cover them well is worth investing in.”
General excellence. The Sandoval Signpost, Sandoval County’s only county-wide paper, was named one of the state’s top newspapers, winning second place in the General Excellence category. “Depth of news and polished ads really stand out,” NMPA judges said of the Signpost.
Design. Art Director Rachel Mills won two first place awards for her designs of 2024 election guides in the Sandoval Signpost and The Independent News covering the East Mountains, Edgewood and Torrance County. “Great information on the election process for readers,” judges said. “How to vote seems so simple, yet it’s important to residents, especially senior citizens. Tremendous value.”
Photography. Photojournalist Roberto Rosales won second place awards for sports photos of the Bernalillo High Spartans’ win over Moriarty and a meeting between the Maori Delegation and Jemez Singers.
News reporting. Jesse Jones, in his first year as a full-time journalist, won second place for business reporting for his coverage in The Signpost of increasing property tax rates in Sandoval County.
In the breaking news category, former editor and current Ctrl+P Chief Operations Officer Tierna Unroh-Enos was the first place winner for her coverage of the tragic end to a missing persons case in the East Mountains, reported in The Independent News. “The writing is clean, clear and efficient as could be,” the judges said.
Carolyn Carlson and Elise Kaplan won first place for feature writing for their story revisiting the cold case of a Mountainair police officer killed in the line of duty. The story was a partnership between The Independent News and the new nonprofit City Desk ABQ. In environmental or agricultural reporting, first-year journalist Elizabeth McCall won a second place award. McCall also won second place in best headline writing for “Tijeras Canyon Residents Grumble Over Rumble Strips.”
The Paper., the original Ctrl+P news outlet, took home two first place awards for stories published in partnership with City Desk ABQ. Kaplan won best news writing and senior reporter Damon Scott won best business writing for We’re here! We’re Queer! You’re Used To It!
Kevin Hendricks, editor of the Sandoval Signpost, Corrales Comment and The Independent News, won second place in investigative reporting for a story he reported for the Rio Rancho Observer before joining Ctrl+P earlier this year.
City Desk ABQ student reporter Lauren Lifke also won three awards for her work at the Daily Lobo, where she is managing editor.
Ctrl+P Publishing works to save New Mexico’s local newspapers by reinvesting in local news reporting and building a pipeline for new journalists to build careers in local, hometown news.