WyoFile won 23 Top of the Rockies journalism awards for its 2022 reporting. For the second year in a row, that’s more than any other “medium newsroom” publication in the four-state competition, and more than any other Wyoming outlet of any size. 

The nonprofit news organization’s accolades included six first-place awards, 10 second-place awards and seven third places in the contest, which is administered by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Colorado chapter. Contest judges honored six staff reporters, two editors and four freelance contributors for work published on WyoFile.com. 

“That our colleagues recognized each and every member of our newsroom is particularly gratifying,” said Matthew Copeland, WyoFile’s chief executive and editor. “Nothing beats the daily endorsements of our neighbors, readers and members though. That’s who makes this work possible and worthwhile.”

This year’s contest had more than 1,750 entries from more than 100 news media outlets in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico — a 12% increase over the number of entries in 2022, according to SPJ. 

“We are pleased to see so many news media outlets competing in Top of the Rockies,” said Deb Hurley Brobst, the contest’s coordinator. “We are seeing top-notch journalism from journalists throughout the region, no matter what the staff size.”

WyoFile State Politics and Government Reporter Mike Koshmrl, Natural Resources Reporter Angus M. Thuermer, Jr., Energy Reporter and Report for America Corps Member Dustin Bleizeffer, Managing Editor Katie Klingsporn and freelance reporter Christine Peterson all won first place. Koshmrl won first place in agriculture and environment news for “Yellowstone: Wolf hunt altered behavior, damaged research.” Thuermer won first place in sports news for “Wyoming billionaires in bidding war for fabled Chelsea Football Club.” Bleizeffer’s “Kemmerer’s locals, leaders eye transition to nuclear-power boom town” won for business enterprise reporting. Klingsporn won best business feature for “In remote outposts, enterprising denizens capitalize on trail traffic,” and Peterson won best science and technology feature for “Euthanize or release? The quandaries of handling captive animals.” 

Columnist Kerry Drake won first place news column for “To prevent Wyo suicides, ‘cowboy up’ isn’t an answer.” 

In notes, a judge wrote Drake “takes a very pertinent social issue and makes it personal to give the message more impact.” 

The nonprofit’s two collaborations with the Casper Star-Tribune won awards for enterprise reporting. “Violence, restraints, isolation increase at Wyoming Boys’ School” took second place and “Wyo GOP chairman quietly assumed power as party fractured” took third. 

Other categories WyoFile placed in include social justice, education,  politics feature, health feature, mental health feature, climate reporting and beat reporting. 

“Our goal is to provide first-rate journalism regarding important issues for Wyoming,” WyoFile Board President David Evans said. “I’m not surprised that we once again received regional recognition for the quality of our work, but it is gratifying. It is a compliment to our organization, but particularly to our dedicated journalists and staff.”

Join the Conversation

17 Comments

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for: 

  • Your real name — first and last. 
  • Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
  • The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
  • Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
  • Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
  • No more than three comments per story, including replies. 

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

  • Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
  • Comments that are not directly relevant to the article. 
  • Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
  • Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
  • Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know: 

  • Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement. 
  • We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
  • We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance. 
  • Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
  • We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you. 

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. WyoFile is great example of good journalism, way to go WyoFile team. I love reading all the articles in WyoFile, it makes me smarter on many topics and we all need that.

    Reply
  2. Reply
  3. Reply
  4. Reply
  5. Reply
  6. Reply
  7. Reply
    1. Reply

  8. Congratulations on your approach to reporting facts and not getting involved in having an agendum. Your well-researched and well written articles are much appreciated and worthy of all accolades which you have received.

    Reply
  9. Reply

  10. Congratulations WyoFile – well deserved for your pertinent and very “readable” publication.

    Reply
  11. Reply
  12. Reply
  13. Reply

  14. Way to go!!!!! Angus….. You have come a long way from your JH News days. One time you typed out a story from the back seat of my Landcruiser on our way back to Jackson from a Casper soccer tournament circa 1985.

    Reply
  15. Reply

  16. although i find some of the articles biased in favor of a certain political view,
    the articles are informative & thought provoking & invite comment without editing.

    Reply