Southwest Contemporary wins awards for design, photography, and editorial in the 2023 Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies contest.
Southwest Contemporary won three awards—including two first-place prizes—in the 2023 Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies contest, which was held in Denver.
SWC, competing in small newsroom categories, took home first place in front page design for the print issue Vol. 5—Collectivity + Collaboration, which features original artwork by San Antonio-based artist Raul Rene Gonzalez and was designed by SWC publisher and editor Lauren Tresp.
Southwest Contemporary, which covers a six-state region across the Southwest, also won first place in the feature photography category for a studio visit article featuring Denver-based artist Michael Gadlin, photographed by Carl Bower.
“Excellent photographs telling the story of a man’s creative journey from sketch to finished artwork. Colorful. Well-framed. You feel like you’re right in the studio with the artist,” noted a Top of the Rockies judge about Bower’s imagery.
Additionally, Jordan Eddy’s profile of the late Zara Kriegstein, the overlooked artist behind Santa Fe’s contested, now-destroyed Multicultural mural, garnered a third-place award in the category for arts, entertainment, and food features or news.
The annual Top of the Rockies contest, presented by the SPJ Colorado Professional Chapter, took place during an April 22, 2023 reception at the Slate Denver hotel. This year’s contest received more than 1,750 entries from more than 100 news outlets and freelancers across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
The complete list of winners can be found on the SPJ Colorado Pro Chapter website.
