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• Best Slogan for Georgetown

  Boom-Boom Town

  Westward ho! Bright lights, big titties! Come see her mountains! We put the strip in strip-mining! Georgetown: Where the scenery is on us, and the mayor is on you. Thanks to a mayor with a penchant for inflating both her stories and her breasts, Georgetown wound up in the media G-spotlight this past year. Stripper-turned-hairdresser-turned-mayor Koleen Brooks kept the old… More >>

• Best Place to Sing "America the Beautiful"

  Pikes Peak

  Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen at 14,110 feet. Maybe it was the stunning view from the top of Colorado's most famous mountain. Whatever it was, something clicked in Katharine Lee Bates's brain on July 22, 1893. As she stood at the summit of Pikes Peak, and as a carriage carried her back to… More >>

• Best Use for Ocean Journey

  Long John Hickenlooper's

  Denver's short on seafood restaurants, and Wynkoop Brewing Co. owner John Hickenlooper is long -- very long -- on lost causes. Could any cause be more lost than Ocean Journey's? If the place does tank -- and it's only barely keeping its head above water in bankruptcy court -- Hickenlooper could be the one to pull it up from the… More >>

• Best Next Job for Jeffco Sheriff John Stone

  Time magazine subscription salesman

  Hey, if Time magazine could sell Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone a bill of goods, there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to return the favor. Back in the fall of 1999, when it seemed as though the wounds of Columbine might actually start healing, Sheriff Stone got snookered by a Time magazine reporter, who got Stone to pose… More >>

• Best Next Job for Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio

  Qwest customer-service rep

  Sorry, wrong number. Coloradans have lots of ideas for what current Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio should do next -- and most can't be published even in this newspaper. But if we really want Jumpin' Joe to feel our pain, a position as a prison janitor, or a checkout clerk for Kmart blue-light specials, or an Arthur Andersen accountant, just isn't… More >>

• Best Next Job for House Speaker Doug Dean

  Home Depot greeter

  When he retires as House Speaker this fall, state representative Doug Dean should have a lock on any future opening Home Depot might have for a greeter. After all, Dean knows how handy the right tools can be. With a screwdriver he just happened to find in his car, for example, he was able to break into his then-fiancée's home… More >>

• Best Item Confiscated at DIA

  Deer antlers

  Since September 11, security screeners at Denver International Airport have confiscated enough scrap metal -- in the form of nail clippers, scissors and letter openers -- to build a 747, and fondled enough underwire bras to get second jobs as mammographers. But according to Denver police officers stationed at DIA, the most suspicious and potentially dangerous item confiscated to date… More >>

• Best Mayoral Proclamation

  Maggiano's Millionth-Meatball Day
  May 10, 2001

  It was enough to give you a very bad case of indigestion: There was Denver's mayor, Wellington Webb, performing meatball surgery at Maggiano's, a restaurant in the Denver Pavilions whose home base is in Chicago -- the city that had just stolen Boeing's new headquarters from us. But Webb, our biggest meatball, continued to pour on the sauce: "I offer… More >>

• Best Congressional Haiku -- Republican

  Scott McInnis

  According to www.yourcongress.com, Scott McInnis, who represents Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, ranks only 66th for power, but rates this haiku: Hey Scott! Relax pal Just what color is your hair? It has changed often… More >>

• Best Congressional Haiku -- Democrat

  Mark Udall

  The 2nd Congressional District rep is one tall drink of non-contaminated water, but on www.yourcongress.com, Mark Udall's haiku is short and sweet: Looks like his old man Environmentalist, too Not a bad combo … More >>

• Best Congressional Haiku -- Retiring

  Bob Schaffer

  Republican Bob Schaffer, whose third -- and final -- term representing the 4th Congressional District ends this year, is going out with a bang. His haiku on www.yourcongress.com: Rocky Mountain Highs Might be outlawed by this guy Good thing Denver's dead… More >>

• Best Secret Message on a Congressman's Stationery

  AMDG

  Oooh, that sneaky Bob Schaffer: If he weren't keeping his initial campaign promise and getting out after his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, we just might have to spank him. Ever since he was elected back in 1996, Schaffer, a conservative (and then some), has been sneaking the letters "AMDG" onto his official congressional stationery -- and… More >>

• Best Appearance by a Cat at the Colorado Legislature

  Westy

  The fur was flying when the still-recovering Westy, a cat set on fire and thrown to the side of the highway by two ne'er-do-wells last year, showed up at the State Capitol to testify for Senator Deanna Hanna's SB 48, which would make cruelty to animals a more serious criminal offense. As if to illustrate the severity of the crime,… More >>

• Best Appearance by a Minister at the Colorado Legislature

  Reverend David Meek

  Invited to offer a prayer before the state Senate, Reverend David Meek, pastor at the Assembly of God Glad Tidings Church in Greeley, offended almost everyone when he asked the one Christian God to help make the Pledge of Allegiance mandatory in public schools, to help convince lawmakers to make abortion illegal and to help guide male senators to watch… More >>

• Best Appearance by a Minister Stalking Miss America

  Reverend David Meek

  There she was, Miss America, visiting the Colorado Legislature for her cancer-awareness campaign. Reverend David Meek was back at the State Capitol on a mission from God -- to hand out a letter apologizing to any lawmakers he'd offended the week before, "Christian Greetings, Precious Lady Senators" -- when he heard that Katie Harmon, the former Miss Oregon, was in… More >>

• Best Political Wife

  Joan Allard

  The wife of Colorado's junior Republican senator, Wayne Allard, is her husband's greatest asset. She accompanies him to every one of the town meetings he holds each year in every one of Colorado's 64 counties, getting a feel for the serious issues even as she chats casually with constituents. And not only can Joan Allard save her husband's bacon, but… More >>

• Best Hometown Boy Made Good -- Even If He's Forgotten His Hometown

  Karl Rove

  Karl Rove has come a long way since his days as the fresh-from-Colorado head of the College Republicans in the early '70s. He made a critical connection during that early political stint: He met George W. Bush, whose father was in charge of the Republican Party. And when Dubya finally moved into the White House, he took Rove with him… More >>

• Best Elevator Button in the State Capitol

  "Help is on the Way"

  Colorado voters probably wish that getting help from their elected representatives in the State Capitol was as easy as pushing a button. Unfortunately, things don't work that way. The lawmakers themselves, however, are always a mere arm's length from assistance -- at least when they are traveling up and down in the Statehouse's notoriously rickety elevators. Press the alarm button,… More >>

• Best Politician

  Senator Ed Perlmutter

  When the boundaries of Colorado's new 7th Congressional district were announced, many people dubbed it the "Perlmutter district," assuming that state senator and popular Jefferson County Democrat Ed Perlmutter would leap at the chance to run for U.S. Congress. But those people didn't know Perlmutter's ten-year-old daughter, Zoe. When the legislator consulted his family about running for the seat, Zoe… More >>

• Best City Councilwoman -- If You're a Sixteen-Year-Old Hipster

  Elbra Wedgeworth

  Last summer, when the City of Denver revoked a class of permit that allowed underage patrons into cabarets, Elbra Wedgeworth was the first councilmember to stick up for the kids and venues affected by the change. Soon after, she organized and supervised a community task force that recommended an overhaul of the cabaret-licensing code. In the end, the city council… More >>

• Best City Councilwoman -- If You're a Skateboarder of Any Age

  Joyce Foster

  Joyce Foster knows that skateboarding is not a crime, which is why she pushed and pushed and pushed for the construction of the Denver Skatepark, a state-of-the-art facility that finally opened in the summer of 2001. Situated on a prime piece of real estate in the Central Platte Valley, the park was designed with the help of a national team… More >>

• Best Way to Break an Election Tie

  Picking a card in Telluride

  Most people think politicians are all the same, so instead of voting, why not flip a coin to determine who should win an election? Or better yet, have the candidates pick a card, and whoever picks the highest card gets to hold the office. Sound like a neat trick? Well, it worked in Telluride after town-council candidates Stu Fraser and… More >>

• Best Political Comeback by an Ex-Senator

  Gary Hart

  Gary Hart's not afraid to say "I told you so," and he did just that, beginning with a Playboy interview in February in which the magazine called him the "former senator who predicted the attacks on America." In fact, Hart got lots of play because of a report he issued in 1999 when he was co-chairman of the U.S Commission… More >>

• Best Political Comeback by an Ex-Governor

  Roy Romer

  After his twelve years as Colorado's leader, no one expected former governor and spry septuagenarian Roy Romer to move to a retirement community and break out the shuffleboard. But to take over as the superintendent of Los Angeles Unified Schools, one of the largest and most troubled school districts in the nation? Some guys just can't get enough. Yet after… More >>

• Best Place to Celebrate Independence/Veterans Day Every Day

  VFW John S. Stewart Post No. 1

  Founded in 1899, VFW John S. Stuart Post No. 1 was the first VFW post in the nation, and all 103 years of its history can be felt inside. But while the post's (dwindling) membership is limited to veterans of foreign wars, the restaurant and bar are open to anyone in the mood for a great burger, some good old-fashioned… More >>

• Best Osama bin Laden Game and Puzzle Book

  Where's Osama?

  In an attempt to bring some humor to the topic of capturing the mother of all terrorists, Colorado entrepreneurs Mark Simmons and Dan Frazier have created Where's Osama?, a game in which players look for Osama bin Laden by traveling through the caves of Afghanistan as U.S or Afghani military personnel or as a "Geraldo-like" reporter. Available on the Internet,… More >>

• Best Place to Buy a Flag

  Flagworld

  Big flags, small flags, car flags, tall flags. If you still need a flag -- and by now, you may have already picked up a couple -- Flagworld is the place to pledge your allegiance. "We have flags of all sizes, and everything related to flags, jackets, T-shirts, clocks, stickers, key chains," says Imad Ardah, who has been part owner… More >>

• Best Place to Have Your Flag Cleaned

  Carousel Cleaners

  It feels great to put on a fresh, clean pair of pants and a shirt, and according to Mike Miller, it feels even better to hang a fresh, clean United States flag from your home or car. That's the way Miller has felt ever since he bought Carousel Cleaners 32 years ago and began offering flag cleaning for free. "We've… More >>

• Best Parade

  Martin Luther King Jr. "Marade"

  This past January, 30,000 people marched from City Park to Civic Center Park in Denver's Martin Luther King Jr. "Marade" (a word that combines the civil-rights leader's name with 'parade') to remember one of the greatest men in American history. The annual event -- one of the biggest MLK celebrations in the country -- is also just plain fun. For… More >>

• Best Way to Avoid Standing in Line at City Hall

  www.denvergov.org

  The city's official Web address, www.denvergov.org, has been pumped up of late. Real-estate property-tax records have become searchable online, as have contractors' license records -- and businesses can even file their personal-property declarations using the site. That's your government working for you.… More >>

• Best Reopening

  The doors of the City and County Building

  In the wake of September 11, security experts decided that the main entrance to the City and County Building should be locked and all traffic funneled through a side door. Besides being a big pain in the neck for workers and visitors alike, it smacked of a siege mentality gone too far. The decision to finally reopen the doors of… More >>

• Best New Building (Since March 2001)

  Civic Center Office Building

  One less ugly, crumbling parking lot; one more nice Denver building. For the last several years, the Civic Center Office Building, a gleaming new twelve-story edifice, has been rising at the north end of Civic Center Park. When it opens this summer, the structure, designed by David Owen Tryba with RNL Design, will provide badly needed office space for the… More >>

• Best Save of an Old Building

  Annex I

  Annex I was used for decades as offices for the City and County of Denver, but it was originally built in 1949 as part of a never-finished and ultimately abandoned downtown campus for the University of Denver. It was designed by local architects Smith, Hegner and Moore, with G. Meredith Musick. And although Annex I is radically different from the… More >>

• Best Reuse of a Historic Building

  Gates Mansion, now Dave's Place

  Historically known as the Gates Mansion, the fabulous house that sits high above the corner of Fourteenth Avenue and Josephine Street is an easy-to-recognize landmark. Built for merchant Russell Gates in 1892, the fine Richardsonian-Romanesque residence is noteworthy for its monumental stone arches and elegant massing. The identity of the designer is unknown, but it's thought to have been architect… More >>

• Best Old Buildings Made New

  Karmen Western Wear, now the Hardware Block

  Charlie Woolley, who specializes in rehabbing historic buildings, has earned a reputation as one of Denver's most creative and thoughtful developers. For his latest effort, he poured $20 million into the three former Karmen Western Wear buildings on Wazee Street between 15th and 16th streets -- which he's dubbed the Hardware Block -- and turned them into lofts, offices and… More >>

• Best New Building Made Old

  The Reyes Building

  The Reyes Building is just a shell of its former self, a circa 1889 storefront that housed the once-bustling Paso del Norte, an early Mexican cafe that catered to all the folks who frequented the markets, resale shops and little businesses in the 2100 block of Larimer Street. But after a fire hit the building over a decade ago, it… More >>

• Best Comeback of a Faded Beauty Queen

  Colorado Business Bank

  The concrete building that is now the Colorado Business Bank was originally constructed in 1907 for Charles Boettcher's Ideal Cement Company. Twenty years later, it was completely redone by the premier Denver architects of the time, Fisher and Fisher, who converted the ordinary building into a remarkable structure encrusted with terra-cotta decorations and lined with luxurious surface treatments, including metal… More >>

• Best Building on the Endangered-Species List

  Ocean Journey

  Ocean Journey was just hours from going extinct when it was pulled back from the brink on April 1. Let's hope that Ocean Journey, the aquarium, survives bankruptcy, because Ocean Journey, the building, is a very fine structure that was conceived to the nth degree when it was built in 1999. Not only does it sport state-of-the-art technical features that… More >>

• Best Thing to Happen to Denver's Buildings

  Guide to Denver Architecture
  Mary Chandler

  Mary Chandler's goal was to research 400 buildings in and around Denver, put her comments into book form and get the whole thing published before the American Institute of Architects met in Denver last summer. The task was made more complicated by an ever-changing cast of characters who served on a succession of advisory committees from the Denver Foundation for… More >>

• Best One-Stop Cop Shop

  New Brighton Police Department and Municipal Court

  Built on the cheap for less than $7 million, the genius of the brand-new Brighton Police Department and Municipal Court building is the way its designers, Denver's Roth & Sheppard Architects, orchestrated ordinary materials into a chic, sophisticated whole. The masonry block they used is the kind of thing usually employed for a Wal-Mart, but here it was used to… More >>

• Best New Lofts

  Renaissance Off Broadway Lofts

  One of the big Denver success stories of the last five years is the adaptation of historic industrial and commercial buildings into lofts -- the word 'condo' being so '80s. Lofts are now all the rage, which means that the city has begun to run out of appropriately sized old buildings; thus new buildings, often in the style of the… More >>

• Best Example of Successful New Urbanism

  Officers' Row Lofthomes
  Lowry

  Despite its name, new urbanism isn't exactly new. The highly vaunted style has turned out to be little more than old suburbanism in most places -- except that the buildings are closer together. And although most of the development at the old Lowry Air Force Base looks like a tight Highlands Ranch, a group of sensitive and intelligent townhomes and… More >>

• Best Start for a New Neighborhood

  Riverfront Park and the Millennium Bridge

  Just a few years ago, the Platte River Valley behind LoDo was a nearly empty space. But the Sixteenth Street Mall was recently extended right to the edge of that area, and with it came lots of development. Three of the most handsome of the new buildings, Park Place, Promenade Lofts and the high-rise Riverfront Tower, were built by East… More >>

• Best Plan to Save the Old Colorado

  The Nature Conservancy's "Heart of the West" campaign

  Coloradans have become dispirited over the last few years as they've watched wall-to-wall subdivisions creep over the Front Range and pristine mountain valleys turn into gated communities filled with trophy homes. Now the Nature Conservancy is trying to do something about it. The group has launched a $75 million campaign to protect fifteen unique Colorado landscapes, from the dry plains… More >>

• Best Old-Fashioned Downtown

  Golden

  There are plenty of charming mountain towns in the area, but none as close to Denver as Golden. Washington Avenue, the main drag, features a justly famous welcome sign ("Howdy folks!") and numerous noteworthy attractions, including the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, the Foothills Art Center and Foss Drug, a sprawling general store stocked with everything from novelty toilet paper to… More >>

• Best Place to Park Downtown

  Allright Parking

  World-class, our ass: We're just looking for a place to park it. And here at the corner of 14th and Champa streets, like a struggling, spindly daisy peeking out from the surrounding weeds of greed that charge up to $2 per twenty minutes, we're feelin' Allright, uh-huh. Bordered on one side by a light-rail station and only steps from the… More >>

• Best Paving of the Way Toward the Future

  Union Station Paving Project
  Lodo District Inc.

  To raise money for the soon-to-be-renovated Union Station -- the Denver landmark that, with the addition of light rail, has been re-energized as a transportation hub -- the nonprofit Lodo District is selling 8,000 engraved bricks that will form a plaza at the station's entrance. The price of this immortality? A mere $75 -- to a major $1,500. Like the… More >>

• Best T-Rex Art -- Official

  Art on the Highway
  Barb McKee and Carolyn Braaksma

  Residents who've watched their neighborhoods get eaten alive by the T-Rex highway-widening project will soon get a concrete consolation prize: Art on the Highway. Local artists Barb McKee and Carolyn Braaksma, whose experience on massive public-art programs inspired them to form a company called Surface Strategy, convinced T-Rex planners to include images on the giant sound and retaining walls going… More >>

• Best T-Rex Art -- Unofficial

  ListenUp

  Thanks to T-Rex, last year ListenUp was forced to leave one of its longtime homes, a building on South Logan Street, and move its offices to East Evans. To let customers know about the relocation, Walt Stinson, the owner of this venerable home-electronics store, had the rear of the Logan building (the part visible from I-25) covered with a giant… More >>

• Best Place to Watch Drug Deals on Your Lunch Hour

  Civic Center Park

  Anchored at either end by the Denver City and County Building and the Colorado State Capitol, Civic Center Park is home to the People's Fair, the Taste of Colorado and Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup celebrations. It's also home to scores of drug dealers who ply their wares 24/7 behind the pillars of the Greek Theater. Anyone curious about who's buying… More >>

• Best Divine Save on the Western Slope

  Cornerstones of Law and Liberty Plaza and the Ten Commandments
  Grand Junction City Hall

  A monument of the Ten Commandments has stood proudly in front of Grand Junction City Hall for over forty years, but last year a group that saw it as a violation of the separation between church and state demanded its removal in a lawsuit. Grand Junction's elected officials countered by creating a "Cornerstones of Law and Liberty Plaza" featuring a… More >>

• Best Church Advertisement

  Top Ten Reasons Why Liberals Hate the Holidays

  In December, the following advertisement for the Denver Bible Church appeared in a Denver daily newspaper listing the "Top Ten Reasons Why Liberals Hate the Holidays." 10. Thanksgiving is mass murder for turkeys. 9. Too many SUVs traveling to grandma's house. 8. College bowl games encourage competition. 7. Millions of Christmas trees are cut down. 6. The Pilgrims thought up Thanksgiving, not the Indians. 5. Christmas… More >>

• Best Divine Guest on Capitol Hill

  The Archbishop of Canterbury
  St. John's Episcopal Cathedral

  St. John's Episcopal Cathedral is a Capital Hill institution, but even longtime churchgoers were wowed by their guest in January. The Reverend George Carey, better known as the Archbishop of Canterbury -- spiritual leader of 92 million Anglican Christians around the world -- had come to town to preside over the installation of the Reverend Peter Eaton as the ninth… More >>

• Best Place to Pretend You're Rich and Famous

  Cherokee Ranch and Castle
  Castle Pines

  The home of late socialite Tweet Kimball is arguably the most spectacular in Colorado. Modeled after a Scottish castle, it sits on a bluff that offers mind-boggling views of the Front Range, from Pikes Peak to Longs Peak. Kimball could have sold the 3,000-acre property for millions of dollars but instead chose to create a foundation that has preserved the… More >>

• Best Cop Museum

  Arvada Police Department

  For half a century, Arvada's men and women in blue have been enforcing the law and protecting the citizenship of this Denver suburb. Now some of that history can be viewed in the Arvada Police Department's display in the lobby of its building. It includes dozens of photos, uniforms, badges and other memorabilia donated by retired cops -- a most… More >>

• Best High School Museum

  South High School

  History class might be boring, but the history of South High School -- that's a different subject. Tucked into the school's bell-tower attic and its basement are huge collections of photos, clothing, trophy cups, scrapbooks and other mementos that tell the history of this 101-year-old institution. And thanks to the dedication of South alumni, they've been recorded and displayed in… More >>

• Best Bet for Teens With DPD Spy Files

  Students 4 Justice

  Give these kids extra credit in civics: Students 4 Justice, a group of Denver-area high school students affiliated with the Colorado Progressive Coalition, takes on issues ranging from Nike's use of foreign labor to profiling in the Cole community to a shortage of federally subsidized lunches at West High. Along the way, they rate high marks for their eloquence and… More >>

• Best Bet for Adults With DPD Spy Files

  Denver CopWatch

  Smile! You're on not-so-candid camera. In the wake of several controversial Denver Police Department actions, including the shooting of Ismael Mena, Denver activists took the Neighborhood Watch concept a few steps further and banded together as Denver CopWatch, a citizens' watchdog group that keeps an eye on the Denver Police Department. Founded by activists Stephen and Vicki Nash, the group… More >>

• Best Reference to the Three Little Pigs in a Legal Ruling

  U.S. District Judge John Kane

  Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane is erudite, wise (he's taken a controversial, and eminently reasonable, stance opposing the War on Drugs) and witty. In a recent bankruptcy ruling, he noted that the appellant "presents a version of the three little pigs who outsmarted the big bad wolf, and despite all his huffing and puffing kept a house and sold… More >>

• Best Prison Therapy

  Limon Correctional Facility

  At this high-security prison, the guards encourage inmates to share needles. That's because these prisoners, some of the most difficult-to-supervise men housed at Limon -- are learning to knit as part of a therapy and rehabilitation program. Convicts have to earn their way into the program, now in its tenth year, with good behavior. The results of their labors, created… More >>

• Best Hope for Prisoners

  The Colorado Innocence Project

  This year, following the lead of legal eagles in other states, lawyer Jim Scarboro brought together attorneys and law students to form the Colorado Innocence Project, a volunteer effort that will look into selected prisoners' cases to determine if the evidence merits a court challenge.… More >>

• Best Calendar -- Wholesome Division

  City of Lone Tree's 2002 calendar

  It doesn't get any more achingly small-town suburban than the City of Lone Tree's 2002 calendar. Norman Rockwell's stuff would look positively raunchy next to this wholesome piece of work, produced by the City of Lone Tree (founded in 1995) and Mike's Cameras, which held a photo contest to select the pictures. Each month features one of the winning photos… More >>

• Best Calendar -- Racy Division

  Vail Undressed

  Some of Vail's highest-profile locals decided to grin and bare it all for Vail Undressed, a 2002 calendar that benefits the Vail Valley Charitable Fund, which helps pay for medical care for those who can't afford it. The calendars raised awareness and plenty of eyebrows in this upscale mountain town. But all for fun -- and a cause. As for… More >>

• Best Comeback

  Mountain Gazette

  Back in the '70s, the Mountain Gazette was required reading for all the people flocking to Colorado, eager for a groovy Rocky Mountain high. Twenty years after its death, the magazine was revived last year by longtime journalists John Fayhee and Curtis Robinson. The Mountain Gazette's endearing mix of crunchy adventure stories and oddball attitude emerged from the hiatus relatively… More >>

• Best Hair on a TV Personality -- Female

  Shaul Turner
  Channel 31

  Shaul Turner doesn't have TV-news hair. She's got entertainer hair, show-business hair, Grammy Awards hair, Diana Ross and the Supremes hair. Her hair is so fabulous, in fact, that sometimes it's hard to pay attention to certain details, like the news she's delivering. But with hair that great, who cares?… More >>

• Best Hair on a TV Personality -- Male

  Tony Kovaleski
  Channel 7

  It's way past time that Tony Kovaleski, one of Channel 7's investigative reporters, used his dogged journalistic skills to plumb the depths of a great mystery: his own hair. Is it real? A wig? A weave? A welcome mat? Dunno -- but the story behind the follicles could be a ratings blockbuster.… More >>

• Best Absence of Hair on a TV Personality

  Todd Mansfield
  Channel 31

  A producer and fill-in anchor in Channel 31's sports department, Todd Mansfield isn't balding in the manner of, say, Channel 9's Gregg Moss, whose hairline is still visible, albeit apparently so frightened of his forehead that it's racing in the opposite direction. No, Mansfield's head is totally shaved and remarkably translucent; when the studio lights hit his pate at just… More >>

• Best TV Newscast -- Morning

  Channel 9

  Channel 9's morning program, co-starring Gary Shapiro, Kyle Dyer, Drew Soicher, Gregg Moss and Kathy Sabine, remains the a.m. show against which all others must be measured. And right now, none of them measure up.… More >>

• Best TV Newscast -- Night

  Channel 4

  No local newscast is perfect, but Channel 4 is the one that most consistently puts the focus on news and has scored more memorable scoops than its competition -- with the loafing cops at DIA at the top of the list. Given Aimee Sporer's impending departure, change is in the wind. But as of now, this is one telecast that… More >>

• Best TV Anchor

  Anne Trujillo
  Channel 7

  Unlike so many of her peers at local anchor desks, Anne Trujillo is not about glamour. Rather, she simply and straightforwardly reports the news -- which is supposed to be her job, right? Because she's on Channel 7, which has been ratings-challenged for a generation, she hasn't gotten the attention that's routinely showered upon her rivals. So even if the… More >>

• Best Weathercaster

  Kathy Sabine
  Channel 9

  Okay, we surrender. With her features about big fish and photos of sunsets, Kathy Sabine, Channel 9's veteran morning weathercaster, can be so relentlessly perky that those of us who have a tough time waking up occasionally feel the urge to throw something heavy at her televised image. But Sabine also happens to be a smooth and professional weather-info deliverer… More >>

• Best TV Sportscaster

  Tim Ring
  Fox Sports Net

  Tim Ring has a big job: He's got to hold together half-hour broadcasts that are filled with nothing but sports news -- and to make matters worse, he's got to deal with irritating co-host Gordie Hershiser. But he accomplishes both tasks with aplomb. He's smart, quick-witted and funny, though he knows when to reel in the humor and concentrate on… More >>

• Best Hoops Oops Scoop

  Brian Willie
  Channel 9

  A 9 News photog, Brian Willie was following basketballer Nick Van Exel to the locker room after another loss by the Denver Nuggets when he caught then-coach Dan Issel hurling his now-famous insult at a fan. Which is why Issel is a former coach.… More >>

• Best Return to the Airwaves

  Tom Green
  Channel 2

  Tom Green got jobbed in 2001, leaving Channel 7 to join Fox Sports Net, only to have the position melt away before he could take it. So it's nice to see Green, one of Denver's sharpest personalities, back in front of the camera, where he belongs. Channel 2's morning show remains a bit of a mess, but if anyone… More >>

• Best Media Multi-Tasker

  Susie Wargin

  Susie Wargin gets around. In addition to hosting a regular show on KBPI, she provides updates and random banter during The Sports Zoo on KOA and handles assorted sports-reporting duties for the station. And now she's the high school sports reporter for Channel 9 and is doing a more than competent job there. Where does she find the time?… More >>

• Best Ties on a Local TV Personality

  Brian Maass
  Channel 4

  Investigative reporter Maass, who's had quite a run of scoops lately, frequently leaves his jacket unfastened during in-studio standups and live reports -- the better to give himself the appearance of having just rushed in with a breaking-news story. As a result, viewers regularly get a full-length gander at his ties, most of which are enormous; he favors neckwear that's… More >>

• Best Talk-Show Host

  Mike Rosen
  KOA-AM/850

  With the swearing in of a Republican administration last year, Mike Rosen seemed likely to lose most of his subject matter. But since then, he's been his old, persnickety self, castigating those who don't fit his definition of conservatism, no matter what political party they belong to. Nobody cuts off a caller to deliver a lecture like Big Mike.… More >>

• Best Sports-Talk Host

  Mike Haynes
  The Fan

  Mike Haynes, the voice of the Colorado Avalanche, doesn't have a standard sports-talk gig, but before each game he hosts Between the Pipes, a preview show in which he takes calls, answers e-mails and otherwise demonstrates his enthusiasm and expertise. The show is as entertaining as it is informative; both hockey experts and novices usually learn something new every time… More >>

• Best Military Expert

  Bob Newman
  KOA and the Denver Post

  A former Marine, Bob Newman hit KOA like a rocket following the September 11 attacks, offering blood-and-guts commentary that blew everyone else off the airwaves. More surprisingly, he's evolved into a lower-temperature correspondent whose investigations of terrorism-response readiness at facilities like DIA have actually provided a public service. He's also an often-controversial contributor to the Post and an occasional expert… More >>

• Best Radio Station

  KVCU-AM/Radio 1190

  No matter how many times we say it, the fact remains that KVCU/Radio 1190 is far and away the most exciting station on local radio right now -- an outlet that consistently features the best, most intriguing popular music in existence. And unless something changes, that's likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future. Deal with it -- or… More >>

• Best Gospel Radio Show

  Old Ship of Zion
  KDKO-AM/1510

  Radio ratings people call KDKO-AM's sound urban contemporary, but from 7 to 8:30 a.m. every Sunday, the station drifts back in time when Old Ship of Zion, which has been on the air for nearly four decades, sets sail for gospel ports of call. Hosts Beverly and T.C. Young are married gospel performers who sing His praises at services around… More >>

• Best Daily Newspaper

  Rocky Mountain News

  It's debatable whether the joint operating agreement between the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post saved the News from sure death -- but it certainly seems to have lit a fire under the staff. The Post has the edge in terms of resources, but the News is doing more with less. We're glad Denver remains a two-newspaper town, and… More >>

• Best Daily Business Columnist

  Al Lewis
  Denver Post

  While it's easy for daily newspaper columnists to take on obvious targets, like scandal-plagued Enron, it's a lot harder to attack the companies in their own back yards. The commentators run the risk of outraging the company's employees and being blamed for the loss of advertising when angry CEOs yank their ads out of the paper. That makes Denver Post… More >>

• Best Daily Columnist

  Mike Littwin
  Rocky Mountain News

  Mike Littwin, columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, is the town's finest writer. He tackles more varied subject matter and is capable of being amusing and incisive at the same time. No wonder he wins in a walk.… More >>

• Best Evidence That Having Something to Live For Staves Off Death

  Gene Amole
  Rocky Mountain News

  Since announcing last year that he's dying and that he planned to document the process, media veteran and longtime Rocky Mountain News columnist Gene Amole has become unexpectedly energized, churning out far more copy than he had in ages. These days, he's returned to writing about topics other than himself, like current events, and has even taken a trip to… More >>

• Best New Feature in a Denver Daily

  "Talk Back to the Media"

  Located on the only Rocky Mountain News page in the Sunday Denver Post, "Talk Back to the Media" allows disgruntled information consumers and assorted insiders to air their grievances in a public forum -- and members of the journalism community have been responding in kind. For instance, Channel 7 was recently taken to task by four members of the publicity… More >>

• Best Traffic Team

  Lynn Carey and Luan Akin
  Channel 4

  Lynn Carey and Luan Akin have garnered respect for a few years now for their traffic acumen -- Carey for her radio updates and Akin for her eye-in-the-sky TV work. So, putting them together was the equivalent of creating a traffic all-star squad, which helps explain why Channel 4's traffic coverage has left the competition in the slow lane.… More >>

• Best View of Denver Traffic

  www.mytrafficnews.com

  Keep your eyes on the road! Scott Yates does, and the result is MyTrafficNews, an amusing, informative, highly opinionated Web site. "Our corporate philosophy is that the world could use a little less of the corporate mindset," reads the site's fine print. "Traffic is a drag, and we just want to do what we can to help, starting with trying… More >>

• Best View Off an Interstate

  I-70 in the foothills

  When idling up Floyd Hill at half-speed and with a full load, truckers from Allied Van Lines apparently don't have much else to do than take in the view. That's why, in a recent survey of more than 300 of these professionals -- men and women who prowl the interstates from coast to coast -- they voted Colorado's I-70 the… More >>

• Best View of Boulder

  www.mondoboulder.com

  Life is different in the People's Republic of Boulder -- oh, excuse us, that's the Independent Republic of Greater Boulderia, according to the mondoboulder Web site, the most excellent work of Old Boulder Bozo Peter Aretin. Full of far-from-gratuitous insults, a few nostalgic pieces, up-to-the-minute commentary and a listing of the first annual Dillies -- awards named in honor of… More >>

• Best View of Denver

  "Ed's Favorites"

  Channel 4 devotes a half-hour every week to entertainment reporter Greg Moody's all-positive, all-the-time entertainment show, Show. That's a commendable commitment to culture. And Show's better than ever these days, since veteran TV man (and recent Channel 9 escapee) Ed Greene started contributing his own offbeat, opinionated looks at Denver in a segment called "Ed's Favorites." Ed man talking!… More >>

• Best Line Measurements

  KOA's Airport Updates

  After September's terrorist strikes, security changes at Denver International Airport caused security checks at the facility to last as long as a screening of Titanic. Shortly thereafter, KOA added reports about the length of the wait to the tail end of newscasts, tossing out times along with mentions of current temperatures and road conditions -- for which the city's travelers… More >>

• Best Academic Weatherman

  Roland Madden

  Roland Madden, a research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, won the 2002 Jule G. Charney Award from the American Meteorological Society "for pioneering investigations of atmospheric predictability, global waves and the intraseasonal oscillation." Given the inaccuracy of so many of his media brethren, maybe he should be on TV.… More >>

• Best Academic Mentoring Program

  Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science

  Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science, a mentoring program offered by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, recently received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, one of ten handed out nationwide, for the way it allows students in underserved communities to get a shot at a career in the sciences. Last year, 43 students… More >>