AURORA | Sentinel Colorado took home five statewide journalism awards Saturday, competing against the largest media organizations in the state.

Sentinel journalists were tabbed for the Colorado Press Association’s coveted Public Service award, this year for a series of stories, opinion columns and house editorials focusing on abuses of the public by the Aurora Police Department and efforts to implement police reform.

The Sentinel was also honored for its Social Justice and Equity reporting and opinions, as the newsroom focused on the region’s vulnerable homeless community.

The awards were announced Saturday at the Colorado Press Association 1485th annual convention, this year in Thornton.

“Each year, the Sentinel shows that journalism’s ability to successfully shine a light on big issues and problems can come from small, intrepid newsrooms,” said Sentinel Editor Dave Perry. “The community has every reason to be as proud of the hard work by Sentinel dedicated journalists as am I and the Sentinel board members.

Competing in a news media class that includes the Denver Post, the Colorado Sun, the Colorado Springs Gazette and Colorado Public Radio, the Sentinel took first place for the best Social Justice reporting and third place for this year’s Public Service award.

“Some of the best writing I’ve seen in this whole contest came out of this category,” one judge said about the reporting entered into the award category.

The Sentinel took third place for the contest’s Public Service award. Second Place for the honor went to Colorado Public Radio for their work on the effect of the second Trump administration on Colorado. First place was won by the Colorado Sun for their project on aging in Colorado.

“These entries demonstrated a lot of consistent and long-term effort by entire news departments,” judges said in their awards comments.

Sentinel Editor Dave Perry was honored for house editorials he penned in 2025, including opinions criticizing far-right groups for dead-naming transgender public school students; an editorial calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump for demanding the execution of Aurora Congressperson Jason Crow and other members of Congress for advising members of the military of their rights and responsibilities; and an editorial calling for the City of Aurora to address a critical problem with some city lawmakers wrongly misdirecting the public from a problem that provably was linked to city slumlords.

Perry was also tabbed for best humorous column writing for essays covering topics such as aging and lost cultural icons, and another column focused on his eternal failures in his backyard garden.

Perry was also honored for top headline writing, with zingers such as: “Check it out — Aurora library books farmer’s markets for the summer,” and “Ruff on crime: Aurora cops raise cash for canine partner safety vests,” and “Mything the point. Science, not wishing, saves the lives of drug addicts.”

Earlier this year, the Sentinel won top honors as well from the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual Top of the Rockies regional awards for some of the same reporting work as well as other projects. 

This year, the Society of Professional Journalists honored the Sentinel with its annual First Amendment Award for the Sentinel team of journalists, attorneys and activists who have helped empower all Colorado news media to hold governments accountable for open meetings laws.

The Sentinel was also honored among large news media in a four-state region with:

• First place in breaking news for coverage by reporter Cassandra Ballard on immigration protests in Aurora.

• Second place in sports news for coverage by Sports Editor Courtney Oakes of the Regis Jesuit High School soccer team’s journey to state championships.

• First place for columns by Perry, covering a gamut of issues. “In these troubled times, it’s a great diversion to read the laugh-out-loud lines by Dave Perry,” judges said.

• Second place for best place headline writing by Perry, with judges referring to the submissions as “puntastic”.

• Second place for political writing for a story about a city council member’s racist videos and a local election, by Ballard.

Read more NASA’s newest space telescope launches on a quest to explore the hidden universe

Read more Broncos’ Jonathon Cooper, facing strangulation charge, to start season on commissioner’s exempt list

Read more An 88-yard strike and 3 TDs: Sam Ehlinger’s big night for the Broncos in 34-6 rout of Viking