People & Places >>

• Best Correction in the Rocky Mountain News
  In January, the Rocky Mountain News ran this correction on page two: "The cover photo of today's Spotlight section shows a snowshoer rather than a cross-country skier." Bet they know the difference now. More >>
• Best Addition to the Rocky Mountain News
  The Stump
  We'll admit it: At first the Rocky Mountain News's new design hurt our eyes, and we couldn't imagine how the paper would continue to fill its "channels" -- those left-hand columns earmarked for chatty tidbits, quotes and "by the numbers" trivia. But the News adjusted some type, we adjusted our... More >>
• Best Correction in the Denver Post
  Two days after the new leaders of the Colorado General Assembly were sworn in this session, a correction appeared in the Denver Post: "Because of a reporter's error, Diane Carman's column on the Denver and the West cover Thursday incorrectly stated that Colorado House Speaker Lola Spradley's... More >>
• Best Addition to the Denver Post (2 Comments)
  Greg Moore
  Greg Moore, a former managing editor with the Boston Globe who was cherry-picked by owner Dean Singleton for the position of Denver Post editor, has been on the job for less than a year, but he's already done what many observers thought would be impossible: He's got people talking about a paper... More >>
• Best New Slogan for Denver
  "Denver: We Love It!... Most of the Time"
  Welcome to the city of conditional love. You know about Denver's 300 days of sunshine a year, right? But nobody ever talks about the other 65 days, which are consumed by blizzards, tornadoes, wildfires, drought and calamity. The temperature here is mild, except when it isn't. Average... More >>
• Best Fact About This State to Tout to Conventioneers
  Forget the snowpack. Colorado is awash in less ambiguous liquid assets, a fact noted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science when it welcomed 6,000 members to Denver for a convention this year. True, the brainiacs acknowledged, Denver is the most educated city in the U.S.,... More >>
• Best Monument to the Cheeseburger
  2776 Speer Blvd.
  Smile and say "Cheese." In 1935, Louis Ballas, owner of the Humpty-Dumpty drive-in in northwest Denver, put a slice of cheese on a hot burger, and the rest is history. The world's first "cheeseburger" - a term patented by Ballas -- is honored with a small memorial at 2776 Speer Boulevard, now... More >>
• Best Useless Guidebook to Colorado
  Colorado: A Silly Guide to the Centennial State
  You'll learn things reading Steve Owings's new book, Colorado: A Silly Guide to the Centennial State, that you never imagined. For example, "The city's night life is best viewed from LoDo (lower downtown). Once teeming with vagrants, panhandlers, prostitutes, and abandoned warehouses the area... More >>
• Best New Job for Wellington Webb
  Loft Broker
  After selling the city on redevelopment of the Platte Valley, just think how soon-to-be-ex-Denver mayor Wellington E. Webb could excel at unloading all of those unsold lofts now cluttering up the riverfront. When showing prospects the properties, WEW could demonstrate how those high ceilings... More >>
• Best New Job for Wilma Webb
  Hostess
  Landry's Seafood Restaurant
  To further protect the Webb legacy along the Platte, Her First Ladiness needs to come to the aid of the one big clunker in her hubby's redevelopment scheme: the failed Ocean Journey, soon to become a theme park where relatives of your entree swim while you eat. As a gracious greeter, handing out... More >>
• Best New Job for Tracy Baker
  Script Writer The Osbournes
  The dad's the bleeping prince of darkness, his wife's a bleeping bleep, and the kids are so bleeping out of their bleeping heads, talking such crazy bleep about who's bleeping who in the bleeping bleep.... This kind of high drama, relentless passion and utter clarity deserves the high-minded... More >>
• Best New Job for John Oglesby
  Snowplow Driver
  Former parking czar John Oglesby left Denver employ in disgrace after his world-class bungle over a new! improved! parking plan. But come this summer, it's a whole new bawl game, with a new mayor and lots of new opportunities in the city -- where Oglesby could reclaim his hefty Career Service... More >>
• Best Indication That Nature Has a Sense of Humor
  Stout Street, March 19, 2003
  In the middle of the blizzard of the century -- depending on where you start counting -- a savvy reader snapped this natural phenomenon in the 1500 block of Stout Street. Meet Frosty, the Snow Man-o-Man. More >>
• Best Addition to the Denver Skyline
  The Millennium Bridge
  Riverfront Park
  With a good measure of artistic skill and an even bigger helping of panache, Steve Chucovich's ArchitectureDenver whipped up a brand-new pedestrian bridge that's already a landmark in every sense of the word. The Millennium Bridge dramatically spans the railroad tracks that separate the Platte... More >>
• Best Addition to the Denver Skyline -- Commercial Division
  Twins!
  Coors Light Billboards
  Some love 'em, some hate 'em, but nobody can miss them -- the ubiquitous Klimaszewski sisters, Diane and Elaine, who watch over the Denver skyline from Coors Light billboards, their mountainous assets a match for the peaks to the West. And the twins have done their bit for more than just the... More >>
• Best New Public Art
  Untitled Sculpture by Larry Kirkland
  The Wellington E. Webb building in the Denver Civic Center complex is so lavish, it's been dubbed the "Webb Mahal" and, in honor of its prow-like shape, the "good ship Welly-pop." But the building has undeniable appeal, a large part of it due to public art -- especially Larry Kirkland's untitled... More >>
• Best Gambit
  Walter Gerash's Chessboard
  A small redstone-and-granite chessboard now stands as a monument to the peaceful co-existence of the old and the new. Attorney Walter Gerash, whose law firm occupies 1439 Court Place -- known in Denver landmark circles as the Curry/Chucovich House -- persuaded workers constructing his... More >>
• Best Freak Show
  Skip and Amy
  There are a lot of kids on the 16th Street Mall who want your spare change, but few who will hammer 5 1/2-inch nails into their noses to get it. Skip and Amy, two kids from Minneapolis, are the exception. Since they arrived in Denver last July, they've been shocking squeamish yuppies on their... More >>
• Best Socialite
  Holly Kylberg
  If anyone in Denver has had her picture in the paper more often than John Elway, that person has to be Holly Kylberg. It's not just because she has a pretty face (she does), but because of her enormous heart. But this is not a medical story. By all accounts, Holly's Huge Heart is the direct... More >>
• Best Anti-Socialite
  Koleen Brooks
  Koleen Brooks's life this past year was a train wreck -- and as with any gruesome accident scene, you couldn't help but look. And look again. And again. Brooks's over-the-top -- and lift-up-the-top -- attempts to gain sympathy and support during her recall vote as Georgetown mayor, as well as to... More >>
• Best Decision by the Colorado Supreme Court
  Jurors Can Ask Questions
  In February, the Colorado Supreme Court adopted new rules that allow jurors to submit written questions in both criminal and civil trials. Although the trial court still has jurisdiction over whether those questions are appropriate, the move should help make justice more understandable -- and... More >>
• Best Political Giveaway
  Lone Tree
  The little town of Lone Tree just south of Denver is "the city that's growing. Carefully," according to its own slogan. But that doesn't mean it lacks humor -- as is vividly displayed in Timberlines, the town's newsletter. To add to the fun, Lone Tree delivered a 2003 calendar to every home and... More >>
• Best Political Decor
  State Senator Norma Anderson
  Norma Anderson may have been chosen as Senate Majority Leader this session, but she doesn't have a stuffy decorating sense to go along with her title. Instead, she brought to her office the same artistic masterpiece that used to grace her place in the Colorado House: a 13-by-19-inch velvet... More >>
• Best Bus Route for People-Watching
  RTD Route 52
  Arvada to University Hills
  When it comes to people-watching, RTD passengers are spoiled. Every route offers the amateur sociologist a wide array of snooping opportunities, but Route 52 is particularly choice. This is one of the routes subcontracted out to Laidlaw, a private firm that hires non-union drivers to drive... More >>
• Best Place to See a B-52 Bomber (This Side of Iraq)
  Wings Over the Rockies Museum
  Watching CNN's war coverage can be overwhelming, with all those talking heads spewing out acronyms and nicknames in some incomprehensible military jargon. There are so many references to Raptors, Falcons and Eagles, Blackhawks and Apaches, F-14s, 15s, 16s, 18s and 22s that you can't tell what... More >>
• Best Use for Excess Homeland Insecurity Supplies
  Ducti Wallets and Purses
  Orange alerts have you a little rattled? Did you get all caught up in the duct-tape-and-plastic-sheeting frenzy, and now your garage looks like the supply shed for Possum Lodge? Take a deep breath and take heart in what others have done with the handyman's secret weapon. David and Joy Pippenger... More >>
• Best Transportation Support Group for Homeland Insecurity
  Urban Hummer Driving Classes
  Medved Autoplex
  You've got three tons of urban assault vehicle strapped to your back, but it won't get you to your remote mountain sanctuary unless you know how to use it. In fact, it won't get you out of a snowy King Soopers parking lot, either, unless you learn how to handle it on slick roads. Enter Medved... More >>
• Best Homeland Security Uniforms
  U.S. Mint Police
  Denver Mint
  If looking sharp helps you be sharp, the U.S. Mint Police are the cutting edge. In October, the 450-officer force received the Best Dressed Police Department Award in the specialized-agency category from the National Association of Uniform Manufacturers and Distributors. The uniforms, designed... More >>
• Best Silver Lining From a Natural Disaster
  Morel Mushrooms
  Western Slope Burn Areas
  The morel the merrier! This year, the U.S. Forest Service is anticipating an influx of nomadic hunter/gatherers to the Western Slope, all in search of the prized morel mushroom. The fabulous fungi thrive in soils where lodgepole and ponderosa pines have burned, and depending on the amount of... More >>
• Best Corral for Decommissioned Grocery-Store Penny Ponies
  T.D. Rowe/ ACE Vending Company
  They shoot horses, don't they? The mechanical ponies that grazed for pennies near grocery-store entrances may well be moving from threatened animals to full-blown endangered-species status. For decades, the brightly colored "equus plasticus" has been sufficiently attractive to compel tots to hop... More >>
• Best Far-Out Example of Urban Sprawl
  Coyote Ridge at Strasburg
  "If you build it, they will come" is a hackneyed Hollywood phrase that's sunk deep into the American lexicon; apparently it served as the mantra of the optimistic developers behind Coyote Ridge at Strasburg. For all you agoraphobics and urban dwellers, Strasburg is a sleepy little hamlet 35... More >>
• Best In-Fill Development
  Stapleton
  Sure, we miss having the airport close to the city -- but at least Denver got something out of the deal. Last year, the Stapleton redevelopment project received the James C. Howland Urban Enrichment Silver Award from the National League of Cities for its contributions to the urban environment.... More >>
• Best Drop-in Center
  Sox Place
  From the darkness of his troubled adolescence in Arkansas, Doyle Robinson found the light: He would draw upon his own pain to help troubled teens. From his early days handing out tube socks to homeless kids on the 16th Street Mall, Robinson's vision has grown to include Sox Place, a converted... More >>
• Best Example That the Lord Will Provide
  The Word of Jesus Christ Church
  Down in Pueblo, the Word of Jesus Christ Church needed money for a new building. And pastor Albert Struck thought he knew exactly where to get it: by auctioning off a 1986 Honda Accord that had been donated to the church. Normally, a 1986 Accord won't bring that much cash on eBay -- but this car... More >>
• Best Colorado Souvenirs
  Vail Manhole Covers
  Municipal Building
  Like just about everything else in Vail, the town's new manhole covers were pretty classy -- and after a few were stolen right out of the ground, town officials decided to change the way visitors procured their souvenirs. Now you can buy your own cast-iron Vail manhole cover, emblazoned with the... More >>
• Best Appearance by a Coloradan on National TV
  Ryan Sutter
  The Bachelorette
  Is it possible? Can nice guys finish first? Week after week, much of America pondered that question as bachelor after bachelor fell by the wayside on ABC's The Bachelorette. Meanwhile, hunky former football player and current Vail firefighter Ryan Sutter kept on keeping on, looking like a... More >>
• Best Appearance of a Coloradan's Work on National TV
  Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter
  The sitcom Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter doesn't bear a close resemblance to the book of the same title by W. Bruce Cameron, who honed his humor while raising a family in Evergreen and started his writing career by syndicating a column over the Web that was picked up by the Rocky... More >>
• Best Appearance by Colorado Newlyweds in a National Magazine
  Gary Magness/Sarah Siegel
  In Style Weddings
  Gary Magness and Sarah Siegel, both children of Colorado celebs (he's the son of late cable magnate Bob Magness; she's the daughter of Celestial Seasonings founder Mo Siegel), are not only jet-setting, they're trend-setting: The pair's nuptials were featured in the spring 2003 edition of In... More >>
• Best Appearance by Colorado in a National Magazine
  Seven Lakes Lodge
  Sports Illustrated
  Winter in Colorado is no time to be sporting a swimsuit, but that didn't stop the intrepid folks at Sports Illustrated from their quest to show almost-naked women in the most exotic spots around the globe -- Vietnam, Barbados, Kenya, Meeker. Meeker? For this year's swimsuit edition, SI headed... More >>
• Best Must-See Local TV
  Johns TV
  Channel 8
  For years, the Aurora Sentinel has published photos of men convicted of soliciting ladies, and gents, of the night. But this past July, Denver and its television station, Channel 8, upped the ante on anti-prostitution efforts with the launch of Johns TV, a televised marathon of mug shots that... More >>
• Best Glasses on a TV Personality
  Stacey Donaldson
  Channel 31
  Most television news types would do anything to avoid making spectacles of themselves, including having their eyes lasered so that they don't have to wear glasses. But Stacey Donaldson, a second-string weather forecaster on the local Fox affiliate, rejects this theory, opting to wear a pair of... More >>
• Best Official Biography of a TV Personality
  Dan Daru
  Channel 2
  TV station Web sites regularly feature biographical material about their featured personalities, and the vast majority of it is about as spicy as a brick of Velveeta. But the bio of Dan Daru, Channel 2's wild card, is a notably cheesy exception. His tale, accessible at WB2.trb.com, claims that... More >>
• Best Hair on a TV Personality -- Male
  Mike Landes
  Channel 7
  An entire generation of Denver television viewers grew up admiring the coiffure of onetime Channel 9 icon Mike Landess, and why not? His 'do was so perfectly geometrical during his '70s and '80s heyday that it seemed to have been fashioned in a Mattel factory. As seen today on Channel 7, the... More >>
• Best Hair on a TV Personality -- Female
  Tamara Banks
  Channel 2
  Then again, there's much to be said for no-nonsense hair -- a style that doesn't look as if it needs the equivalent of an Indianapolis 500 pit crew to assemble. So here's to veteran broadcaster Tamara Banks, who, in a profession dominated by salon junkies, prefers a look that's simple, elegant,... More >>
• Best Removal of Facial Hair From a TV Personality
  Tom Martino
  Channel 31
  For years, self-proclaimed "troubleshooter" Tom Martino has had trouble directly under his nose: a thick mustache that made it seem as if he had something to hide (like, perhaps, a secret fondness for Geraldo Rivera?). By relegating this accoutrement to his bathroom trash can, he instantly... More >>
• Best Radio Reporter
  Alex Stone
  KOA
  Chronologically, the baby-faced Alex Stone, who's in his early twenties, may be the youngest full-time radio reporter in the city. But he's also the most versatile, with a proven ability to anchor broadcasts, deliver newscasts or work in the field -- and he handles breaking news, background... More >>
• Best Radio Revolutionaries (1 Comment)
  Skyjack Radio
  For a few glorious weeks last year, Skyjack Radio, a thoroughly illegal radio station, knocked the Denver hip-hop community on its collective ass with uncut rap delivered with sheer exuberance and plenty of profanities. When representatives of the FCC caught wind of the signal, they promptly... More >>
• Best TV Revolutionaries
  Free Speech TV
  Although conservative commentators have long held that news programming on television has a liberal slant, the media as a whole is generally more interested in maintaining the status quo than in fighting the powers that be. Not so Free Speech TV, a channel out of Boulder that's viewable by... More >>
• Best Political Commercial -- 2002 Campaign
  "Moment of Silence"
  The fall 2002 campaign season was among the noisiest, and dirtiest, on record. So it came as a blessed relief when Bighorn Ballot produced a spot in which a peaceful nature scene was supplemented at its conclusion with a graphic reading "This moment of political silence brought to you by Bighorn... More >>
• Best Political Commercial -- 2003 Campaign
  "Suit"
  John Hickenlooper isn't your usual candidate for mayor of Denver, and so it was no surprise when he came up with an unusual TV ad. Still, when so many Colorado political ads are either heavy-handed or ham-handed in delivering their message, "Suit," which shows Hickenlooper trying on an... More >>
• Best Anti-Radio Web Site
  DenverRadioSucks.com
  Most of us realize that a hefty percentage of the shows on Denver radio stations are repetitive, creativity-free and capable of insulting the intelligence of the average house plant, yet we don't do anything about it but complain. So kudos to Jon-Michael DeShazer, who refuses to take the... More >>
• Best Radio Talk-Show Host
  Greg Dobbs
  KNRC
  KNRC, which debuted last summer, hasn't yet challenged the hegemony of the assorted Clear Channel outlets that dominate the local news-talk market. But Greg Dobbs, a former ABC-TV correspondent who manned a talk-show for KOA during the '90s, is certainly doing his part. His morning-drive... More >>
• Best Radio Sports-Talk Host
  Sandy Clough
  The Fan
  As Joni Mitchell sang, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. In recent years, Clough has co-hosted The Fan's morning-drive program, and while he could be cranky and curmudgeonly, he also brought rare perspective and intelligence to a medium that's frequently lacking in both. Clough was... More >>
• Best Radio Station
  KVCU/Radio 1190
  In a radio world marked by conformity, Radio 1190, a signal affiliated with the University of Colorado at Boulder, provides a refreshing blast of individuality. The DJs at the outlet, whether they're working standard shifts or specialized shows, are distinguished from their professional... More >>
• Best TV Weathercaster
  Bob Goosmann
  Channel 31
  When most weather forecasters predict storms or systems that either fail to materialize or blow up to much larger proportions than they anticipated, they seldom acknowledge it. Bob Goosmann, on the other hand, is the rare weatherman who'll admit to screwups and explain where things went wrong.... More >>
• Best TV Anchor
  Jim Benemann
  When Jim Benemann recently floated the possibility in the press that he might move from Channel 9 to its closest competitor, Channel 4, many industry observers viewed it as a negotiating strategy. But he was serious: On March 21, Channel 4 announced that Benemann, who'd once been a weekend... More >>
• Best TV Sportscaster
  Mark McIntosh
  Channel 4
  Mark McIntosh's delivery is fiery and pugnacious; when taking viewers through highlights of a sporting event, he often seems ready, willing and able to jump into the action himself. He's also a good writer and reporter who knows when to shut up and let the pictures do the talking and when to... More >>
• Best Proof That Sports Aren't Just a Man's World
  Colorado Sportswomen
  Channel 4
  During most sportscasts, the focus is on boys, boys, boys; it's as if Title IX never went into effect. But Colorado Sportswomen, a semi-regular program hosted by Channel 4 longtimer Marcia Neville, puts the focus on the other gender, demonstrating along the way that ath- letes aren't defined... More >>
• Best TV Newscast -- Night
  Channel 4
  Molly Hughes has proven to be a strong addition to Channel 4's late broadcast, and she'll get strong support when Jim Benemann's non-compete with Channel 9 expires and he's able to join her at the anchor desk sometime this fall. The real key to the ten o'clock newcast's success, though, isn't... More >>
• Best TV Newscast -- Morning
  Channel 9
  Chemistry is hard to define but easy to recognize -- and Channel 9's Gary Shapiro, Kyle Dyer, Kathy Sabine, Gregg Moss and Drew Soicher have it. They take the prize again this year for their ability to balance news updates of actual significance with lighthearted shenanigans that should be... More >>
• Best Dry Humor
  Denver Water
  The bad news about Colorado's drought was still trickling out last summer when Denver Water decided to alert the public -- gently -- to a potentially dire situation. The agency's $75,000 "It's a Drought. Do Something" campaign -- designed by Sukle Advertising and Design in Lakewood-- debuted in... More >>
• Best Environmentally Correct Drought Relief
  Colorado Waste Tire Program
  On the one hand, big nasty piles of illegally dumped tires, just waiting to spontaneously combust. On the other, thousands of pre-teen soccer players and their parents, banned from parched playing fields. Can one be used to remedy the other? Yes! And the state wants to help play matchmaker. The... More >>
• Best Dinosaur Detective
  Ken Carpenter
  Denver Museum of Nature & Science
  Ken Carpenter, curator of paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, was rooting through a cabinet drawer at Yale University's Peabody Museum when he came across a fossilized tooth. And not just any tooth: The three-and-a-half-inch-long specimen, first found in Golden in 1874, then... More >>
• Best Know-It-Alls
  SmartyPants
  Denver Public Library reference librarians are on call 24/7 to answer your questions over the Internet. You can chat online with a SmartyPants reference librarian or e-mail your question through the DPL's Web site. You'll soon get an answer, along with an e-mail tracing the steps the librarian... More >>
• Best Student Untangling of the Web, on the Web
  www.poorschool.com
  As bad news about the St. Vrain Valley School District budget spilled out last fall, a group of Silver Creek High School students decided to help save their school district -- and also stem the flow of erroneous information. They set up the Web site www.poorschool.com, to "provide a medium... More >>
• Best Way to Report a Crime
  Denver Police Department
  Instead of requiring that minor criminal offenses be reported in person, the Denver Police Department now allows you to do it electronically, expanding on an earlier program that let residents report minor traffic accidents over the Web. To report a theft (not by force or burglary), car break-in... More >>
• Best Community Policing
  Nash Gurule
  Denver Police Department
  Come Cinco de Mayo, check out the award-winning, tricked-out lowrider on Federal Boulevard -- the one with the red, white and blue lights on the top. That guy in uniform standing next to it isn't writing out a ticket; the lowered 1998 Ford Crown Victoria with hydraulic shocks and a trunkload of... More >>
• Best Mild-Mannered Accountant With a Mission
  Lynn Turner
  Colorado State University College of Business
  When the sheer ingenuity of the complex financial shenanigans arranged for Enron by no-accountants Arthur Andersen was revealed, the call went out from Washington to Professor Lynn Turner at sleepy old Colorado State University. A seemingly mild-mannered professor of accounting, in a previous... More >>
• Best Consumer Watchdog With New Bite
  Jack Ehnes
  California State Teachers Retirement System
  As Governor Roy Romer's insurance commissioner in the mid-'90s, Jack Ehnes was a local consumers' hero, always fighting for the little guy. Although most of his innovative reforms have since been undone, he's still in there pitching for Colorado consumers -- albeit indirectly. As chief executive... More >>
• Best Non-Random Act of Kindness -- Legislative
  State Representative Paul Weissmann
  We've missed Paul Weissmann, a Louisville bartender in his real life, who enlivened many a session as a senator at the Statehouse. Now the Democrat is back as a state representative, and he's not wasting any time proposing improvements. While several of his suggestions have run up against the... More >>
• Best Non-Random Act of Kindness -- Judicial
  Denver District Court Judges
  Colorado's courts are in a world of hurt financially, as is every other governmental institution these days, and court employees will be missing out on several days' pay this year. To help ease the pain for 120 Denver District Court workers, the district's twenty judges each contributed $600 to... More >>
• Best Non-Random Act of Kindness -- Parental
  Caitlyn Craig Memorial Fund
  Fifteen-year-old Caitlyn Craig, a Chatfield High School student, died in a car accident this year -- one of a half-dozen teens from the southern suburbs who've been killed in crashes recently. To help ensure that the tragic count diminishes in future years, Craig's family has set up a memorial... More >>
• Best Non-Random Act of Kindness -- Professional
  Orphan Memorial
  Riverside Cemetery
  Think you've got it bad today? Times were much tougher during the Silver Panic, when families were large and "orphan trains" brought more than 1,500 abandoned children to Denver from the overcrowded East. Some of the children handed over to the Denver Orphans' Home for safekeeping didn't... More >>
• Best Non-Random Acts of Kindness -- Educational
  Daniels College Prep Program
  Before he died, Bill Daniels, the cable entrepreneur, poured much of his considerable fortune into the Daniels Fund, which subsidizes numerous good works. But perhaps its most impressive accomplishment is the Daniels College Prep Program, which has helped hundreds of students attend college --... More >>
• Best Reward
  The Rev. Holmes Rolston III
  Deep thoughts paid off big this year for Holmes Rolston III, a philosophy professor at Colorado State University since 1968, who won the million-dollar Templeton Prize for his research advancing the understanding of spiritual realities. More >>