Summit Daily News earned 29 awards for its editorial, advertising and design work in the Colorado Press Association annual competition, in addition to top honors for general excellence. 

The award recognizes the best overall newspaper in each circulation class. Summit Daily News received the general excellence award among Class 2 publications after accumulating the most points across all eligible categories. The paper also earned an excellence award for both its advertising work and mixed media. Last year, Summit Daily News won both advertising and editorial excellence but missed out on the top overall general prize. 

“It’s a recognition of the work our teams do every day across news, advertising, photo and design, and it’s truly a team effort,” said Publisher Nicole Miller.

The newspaper received 12 first-place awards, including for news reporting, health coverage, arts and entertainment writing, public service, page design and digital advertising. Its reporting on affordable housing and health care earned recognition across multiple categories. 

Editor Andrew Maciejewski said the staff’s work on Summit Daily magazines stood out, as did the paper’s 2025 Longevity Project, “Headstrong,” which explored traumatic brain injuries in the High Country in a four-part series. 

“It’s often a culmination of two months or more’s worth of work,” Maciejewski said. “We put a lot of time and effort in the way it’s presented and the impact it has through the event we put on, trying to raise awareness for a really important health issue that our community is dealing with.”

Maciejewski said he remains proud of the project regardless of the recognition it received. More broadly, he said the awards reflect reporters’ efforts to provide residents with the information they need to understand and address local challenges.

“Just by doing what we do every day, it resulted in the highest award you can win for our class,” Maciejewski said of the general excellence honor. “I think that’s really exceptional.”

Maciejewski noted the editorial and advertising teams would not work without each other.

“I know they work as hard as they can on the advertising side to help support local business and make sure that the community is well-served,” Maciejewski said.

Summit Daily News received the following awards:

Editorial

• Best Arts and Entertainment Column Writing, first place: Nicole Lantz for Christmas surprise
• Best Editorial Special Section, first place: Matt Hutcheson, Shelby Valicenti, Cody Jones, Kit Geary, Kyle McCabe and Malisa Samsel for Explore Summit – Winter
• Best Health Enterprise/Health Feature Story, first place: Robert Tann for As Colorado’s health insurance costs rise, mountain residents face ‘tough’ choices next year
• Best News Story, first place: Robert Tann for As Colorado mountain towns push for affordable housing, unreliable income data complicates their efforts
• Best Public Service Project, first place: Cody Jones, Andrew Maciejewski and Emily Gutierrez for the Longevity Project: Headstrong
• Best Editorial Special Section, second place: Matt Hutcheson, Andrew Maciejewski, Shelby Valicenti, Cody Jones, Kit Geary, Kyle McCabe, Ryan Spencer and Malisa Samsel for Explore Summit – Summer
• Best Health Enterprise/Health Feature Story, second place: Cody Jones for Battered brains: Traumatic brain injuries in the heart of Colorado’s mountains outpace state, national averages
• Best Investigative Story Package, second place: Robert Tann for As Colorado mountain towns push for affordable housing, unreliable income data complicates their efforts
• Best Politics Reporting, second place: Robert Tann for Can Colorado’s federal lawmakers still find a bipartisan path forward on public lands? 
• Best Series or Sustained Coverage, second place: Cody Jones, Andrew Maciejewski, Emily Gutierrez, Nicole Miller and Shelby Valicenti for the Longevity Project: Headstrong
• Best Sports or Sports Event Story, second place: Cody Jones for Summit girls basketball team overcomes 20-point deficit to defeat Eagle Valley in overtime thriller
• Best Health Enterprise/Health Feature Story, third place: Cody Jones for Mind mend: Therapy and mental health care bring hope to cognitive recovery for traumatic brain injuries

Advertising

• Best Use of Digital Advertising, first place: Ben Pearson for Kindred Resorts Preview
• Best Classified Page(s) or Section(s), first place: Christina Holaday Schriock for Summit Daily News classifieds
• Best Advertising Special Section, second place: Summit Daily staff for Summit County HOME Magazine
• Best Use of Digital Advertising, second place: Allie Leslie and Kendal James for Vargas Wealth, Boo-K Now
• Best Use of Digital Advertising, third place: Ben Pearson for Red Mountain Grill – Ice Castles
• Best Digital Ad, third place: Allie Leslie for Frisco Animal Hospital
• Best News Media/House Ad Promotion, third place: Kat Ginn for Explore Summit – Summer 2025 ad sales promo

Other/Mixed Media

• Best Event Promotion, second place: Summit Daily staff for Community Conversations
• Best Sponsorship Campaign, first place: Allie Leslie for Daily Dog
• Best Sponsorship Campaign, second place: Summit Daily staff for La Voz sponsorship

• Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, second place: Nicole Miller, Andrew Maciejewski and Matt Hutcheson for La Voz
• Best Website, second place: Andrew Maciejewski, Kat Ginn, Nicole Miller, Shelby Valicenti, Matt Hutcheson, Kyle McCabe, Ryan Spencer
• Best Sponsorship Campaign, third place: Summit Daily staff for Playhouse Project

Photo and Design

• Best Page Design, first place: Malisa Samsel for Olympic Dreamin’
• Best Informational Graphic, second place: Shelby Valicenti for Election Results Live
• Best Informational Graphic, third place: Andrea Teres-Martinez for Summit real estate
• Best Cover Design, third place: Malisa Samsel for Explore Summit – Winter