NMPolitics.net won two journalism awards in the multi-state Top of the Rockies contest on Thursday — a first-place prize for an article about the need for campaign reporting reform in New Mexico, and a second-place award for general website excellence.
Heath Haussamen
The article, “Flawed NM campaign reporting system needs reform, many say,” put in context last year’s criminal charges against former Secretary of State Dianna Duran — who stole money from her campaign to feed a gambling addiction — and problems with several state lawmakers’ finance reports to reveal a broken reporting system.
“A fine piece of reporting by Heath Haussamen of NMPolitics.net on the far-reaching problem of campaign financing abuses, with good reporting and analysis of the roots of the problem and possible solutions,” the judge’s comment stated.
That article won first place for politics reporting in a category that included newspapers with a print circulation of 10,000-29,999 and several online-only media outlets. News organizations from Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming competed in the contest, which was sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Colorado chapter.
NMPolitics.net’s website won second place for general excellence, also in the category that included newspapers with a print circulation of 10,000-29,999 and online-only news organizations.
“Great navigation aids that allow viewers to easily jump between content categories depending on their interests,” the judge wrote about our website. “The ‘More’ section at the bottom of each post is also extremely helpful.”
The judge noted wanting to see more multimedia features on our website.
NMPolitics.net operates on a shoestring budget. As editor and publisher, I’m the news organization’s only staffer. We were competing against newspapers and nonprofit news organizations with larger budgets and many staffers in this contest, and I’m really pleased with the results.
It’s contributions from people like you that make it happen. That includes helping fund our work with donations and advertising sponsorships. It includes submitting guest commentaries and taking part in our online forums. And the kind words so many of you have shared about the work we’re doing give us energy.
NMPolitics.net is devoted to hard-hitting, fair exploration of politics and government that seeks to inform, engage and build community. Thanks for helping us make it work! And thanks for supporting our efforts to produce award-winning journalism!