People & Places >>

• Best New Slogan for Denver
  "Join the Mile High Club"
  Metro boosters keep fretting that the rest of the world doesn't really understand Denver. Outsiders see those nice pictures of Aspen, and they assume this city's in the mountains, too. Or they watch all the coverage of Colorado's assorted sex-assault scandals -- the Air Force Academy, Kobe... More >>
• Best Song About a New Slogan for Denver
  "Branding, You're a Fine Word", TC and the Destroyers
  Tom Clark, head of the Chamber of Commerce's new eco-devo unit, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, isn't all about numbers. He can rock and roll, too, as evidenced by his song "Branding," performed by his band, TC and the Destroyers (celebrity edition), at Denver 360, the city's... More >>
• Best Slogan for a Colorado City That Isn't Denver
  "Alferd Packer: Eat Your Heart Out", Lake City
  When you're a tiny town in the least-populated county in Colorado, you have to make the most of what you have. And for Lake City, that's not just spectacular scenery. It's Lake City's most notorious short-term resident, Alfred Packer, the "Colorado Cannibal" charged with eating five of his... More >>
• Best Question Called In to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
  "What interstate highway goes from Colorado to Hawaii?" More >>
• Second-Best Question Called In to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
  "Hi, I'm calling from Houston, and we're coming to visit. Can you tell me if it is appropriate to wear capris there?" More >>
• Third-Best Question Called In to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
  "I was told there was a restaurant in Denver called Casa Bonita. Are they still open, and do they really have naked divers?" More >>
• Fourth-Best Question Called In to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
  "How many pets are you allowed to keep in Colorado? Could you also tell me how many dogs and cats are already there?" More >>
• Best Political Upset
  John Hickenlooper elected mayor of Denver
  It shouldn't have come as such a surprise. Not if you'd looked at the changing demographics of Denver. Not if you'd read Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class. Not, really, if you'd ever even seen geeky beer baron John Hickenlooper work a room, even if that room was the bar at the... More >>
• Best Political Challenge
  John Hickenlooper v. Tony Young
  You'd think that besting seven other candidates in the mayoral race would be enough for John Hickenlooper. But you'd be wrong. Denver's new mayor is always up for a challenge. During his campaign, he promised that he'd visit a Denver school every week, and while in an elementary-school gymnasium... More >>
• Second-Best Political Challenge
  Rocky Mountain Progressive Network
  In February, as legislators began professing their support for Marilyn Musgrave's Federal Marriage Amendment, the Rocky Mountain Progressive Network asked all elected officials who support a ban against gay marriage to sign a "fidelity pledge." More >>
• Best Educational Challenge
  Cole Middle School
  During another visit to another school -- Cole Middle School -- earlier this year, Mayor Hickenlooper promised that if the students raised their CSAP scores up from the basement where they've been languishing, the city would make sure that when those kids were ready to go to college, there would... More >>
• Best Political Appointment -- State
  Russell George, Colorado Department of Natural Resources
  How does a state agency save money? If it's the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, you hire an outside consulting firm, order your employees to do the firm's work in finding ways to cut costs, and then give the firm a share of both the money saved and new money raised -- from fees imposed... More >>
• Best Unexpected Political Appointment -- State
  Mike Feeley , Colorado Commission on Higher Education
  First things first: Mike Feeley is a Democrat -- and how. The lawyer/lawmaker came within 121 votes of grabbing the seventh congressional seat from Bob Beauprez in 2002. But that didn't stop Governor Bill Owens from naming Feeley this year to an open slot on the Colorado Commission of Higher... More >>
• Best Political Appointment -- City
  Roxane White, Denver Department of Human Services
  With appointment after appointment, Mayor John Hickenlooper has brought a stellar lineup of talent to the city -- and a stellar lineup on the cheap, since he'd vowed to cut the mayor's budget by 25 percent. But even in this embarrassment of riches, Roxane White, the city's new manager of human... More >>
• Best Save by the City
  Denver Police Mounted Patrol
  When Monday Night Football came to town a few years ago, that national broadcast featured shots of Denver's mounted police on the 16th Street Mall. City Councilman Charlie Brown remembered that -- and he's not about to let you forget it. So when budget cuts threatened to put the Denver Police... More >>
• Best New Voice at the State Capitol
  Representative Andrew Romanoff
  Colorado Democrats have been looking for energetic new leaders, and they've found a promising one in Romanoff. As leader of the perpetual minority party in the Statehouse, Romanoff's managed to stir things up under the Capitol dome. He's made far-reaching proposals to solve the state's budget... More >>
• Best Scandal
  University of Colorado's Rapecruitment Program
  Beat 'em, bust 'em, that's our custom! Some schools are steeped in athletic traditions that include such gaudy honors as national championships and future pro zillionaires. But that's nothing. CU already had a rich history of unsportsmanlike misbehavior, and with the current tales of... More >>
• Best Comment on the CU Recruiting Scandal
  Joyce Lebra
  When retired University of Colorado history professor Joyce Lebra learned that she'd be receiving the University Medal, a service award given by CU, she sent a letter to the Board of Regents. It was not a thank-you note. "The massive concrete stadium structure looming over the campus stands as a... More >>
• Best Scandal -- Political
  Senatorial hot potato
  In the beginning, the Colorado campaign for the U.S. Senate was looking about as exciting as an election in pre-invasion Iraq. No one thought incumbent Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell could be defeated, least of all prominent Democrats, who treated their party's nomination like a case of... More >>
• Best Political Message
  From Tracy Baker to Leesa Sale
  Before the Arapahoe County Clerk's office was revealed to be the state's top passion pit, then-clerk Tracy Baker used office equipment to tell Leesa Sale, the woman he'd made his chief deputy assistant, of his admiration for her work. "Wet huh," he messaged her on January 24, 2002. "Get in here... More >>
• Second-Best Political Message
  From Leesa Sale to Tracy Baker
  "Get your ass in here." Days after Tracy Baker was recalled, Chief Deputy Assistant Leesa Sale was put on administrative leave from the clerk's office. More >>
• Best Scandal -- Business
  My Twinn
  The My Twinn phone lines were still connected in late March -- even to the Doll Hospital extensions! -- but no human voices were answering. Which wasn't surprising, because on January 29, involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings had been filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court against the Lifelike... More >>
• Best Scandal -- Media
  G. Brown pays homage one time too many
  Until last fall, G. Brown was the city's most prominent music critic -- a staple in the Denver Post since the days when Boz Scaggs was a hitmaker, not a trivia question, and Yusuf Islam was still known as Cat Stevens. Not even an early-'90s suspension from the Post for essentially lifting the... More >>
• Best Scandal Magnet for the Media
  The Kobe Bryant experience
  When Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant checked into the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Edwards last June, he had no idea that his visit would create a cottage industry. A Cordillera employee claimed that Bryant sexually assaulted her during his stay, and the legal maneuvering that... More >>
• Best Description of Denver by a National Writer -- Current
  Hope Hamashige, New York Post
  In a February travel story titled "On Mile High Alert," Hope Hamashige regaled New Yorkers with this description of what they might see in the Mile High City: "The cowboys, miners and hunters who founded Denver, and who have witnessed the long, slow decline of the city's honky-tonk bars and... More >>
• Second-Best Description of Denver by a National Writer -- Current
  Linda Hayes, Hemispheres Magazine
  The March issue of United Airlines' in-flight magazine, Hemispheres, serves up "Three Perfect Days in Denver," starting with this: "Long out-glammed by glittery ski towns to the west and saddled with outdated reputations (frontier outpost, mining camp, cow town), Denver has pulled itself up by... More >>
• Best Description of Denver by a National Writer -- Historic
  John Gunther, Inside U.S.A.
  John Gunther traveled across the country after World War II, compiling reports that resulted in the classic Inside U.S.A. His dispatch from Denver included this: "I don't know any other American city quite so fascinatingly strange. Not merely because yellow cabs are painted green or because the... More >>
• Best Way to Learn Something on Your Lunch Hour
  Denver Press Club
  Denver's venerable press club is one of the oldest in the country -- but its "Lunch on Deadline" series is right up to the minute. The Denver Press Club regularly hosts noon confabs that feature visiting authors and other newsmakers as the main course -- everyone from syndicated columnist Ellen... More >>
• Best Bum
  Smoky
  Armed with a guitar, a sign and a smile wider than the Platte River, Smoky's been in the game long enough to claim a coveted corner as his own. Camped out at the busy intersection of Speer Boulevard and West Colfax Avenue, he treats drivers to daily shows, singing, ripping jokes and telling it... More >>
• Best Sidewalk Psychic
  Ms. Mac
  Ms. Mac doesn't need a crystal ball or a smoking urn full of incense to look into your future. All she needs is a table, tarot cards and your open mind. A small, spry medium of the deck, Ms. Mac doesn't waste time with vague predictions, observations or ego strokes. If the cards say you're... More >>
• Best Development on Colfax
  Original Downtown Aurora Arts District
  While Denver's just beginning to define its new vision for Colfax Avenue, twenty years ago Aurora officials looked at a crumbling stretch of the street and decided to create the twelve-square-block Original Downtown Aurora Arts District. That stretch, which is already home to the Aurora Fox Arts... More >>
• Best Architectural Visionary
  Cabell Childress
  When University of Denver chancellor Daniel Ritchie embarked on a plan to re-create the campus a decade ago, he enlisted the help of distinguished Denver architect Cabell Childress. The DU of today, dotted with many impressive new buildings done by a host of mostly local architects, owes its... More >>
• Best Addition to the Denver Skyline
  Clayton Lane
  Although it raised the hackles on the necks of neighbors in Cherry Creek North who tried to stop it, Clayton Lane is now nearing completion. Built on the former parking lot of the Sears store, the project is a handsome set of neo-modernist buildings that includes offices, condos, retail and a... More >>
• Best Deletion From the Denver Skyline
  The "Old" Colorado Convention Center
  The new Colorado Convention Center will thoroughly cover the hideous old Colorado Convention Center -- a huge, scale-less, circa 1990 shoebox that was arguably the ugliest building ever to have been erected in downtown Denver. Fentress Bradburn Architects designed that done-on-the-cheap... More >>
• Best Imitation of a Small Town
  East 29th Avenue Town Center
  They've been cropping up everywhere -- complexes that mix retail, offices and residences in a single project meant to serve as little downtowns. One's gone up in Englewood, and there's one at Lowry, one's under construction in Lakewood, and one's in the planning stages in Boulder. But... More >>
• Best Proof That We're Living in a Small Town
  Tower Road message board
  This past summer, the stretch of Tower Road between Hampden and Iliff avenues had become a notorious speedway. To encourage drivers to slow down, Sergeant Dan Courtenay, a twenty-year veteran of the Aurora Police Department, started posting cautionary warnings on an electronic message board that... More >>
• Second-Best Proof That We're Living in a Small Town
  Tauer Road
  In appreciation of the new era of metropolitan cooperation that dawned with the election of two new metro mayors, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper temporarily changed the name of the road separating northeast Denver from northwest Aurora from Tower to Tauer Road, to honor previous Aurora mayor Ed... More >>
• Best Ode to Empty Space
  Robert Bach, Grubb & Ellis
  Robert Bach, national director of market analysis for Grubb & Ellis, appeared at an annual industrial- and office-property owners' meeting in Denver to deliver the bad news about this city's commercial-vacancy rate, which isn't expected to reach 10 percent until 2008. And that's going down. To... More >>
• Best Bus Stop With a View
  104th Ave. and Federal Blvd.
  At the corner where Westminster meets Federal Heights is a scene to ponder. Thanks to a notable plunge in elevation behind it, the bus bench on the northwest corner of the intersection has a panoramic view of the foothills, the Flatirons and the mountains beyond. And all that suburban sprawl in... More >>
• Best Place to Eavesdrop on Blind Dates
  Tattered Cover Book Store
  Everyone dreads blind dates -- unless, of course, they're watching someone else's dreadful blind date. And there's no better place to do that than the Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek. The bookstore appears to be the blind-date location of choice in Denver, which makes sense: The coffee-shop area... More >>
• Best Move by a Former CEO
  Ed McVaney
  As co-founder and chief executive officer of J.D. Edwards, Ed McVaney made millions. As former chief executive of J.D. Edwards, he made tens of millions more when the software company was sold to PeopleSoft Inc. last summer. But the sixty-something entrepreneur wasn't about to sit back and take... More >>
• Best Website for Former J.D. Edwards Employees
  www.ExJDEdwards.com
  When a company like J.D. Edwards is sold to a giant like PeopleSoft, you lose more than jobs (and in this case, the layoffs started soon after the sale). You also lose the sense of corporate culture and camaraderie built up over 26 years. To help keep that alive -- and to help former colleagues... More >>
• Best Online Diatribe
  Shoun Flynn, "Needles for Teeth"
  When local agit-zine The Hooligan called it quits after a decade of caustic satire and poor spelling, contributor Shoun Flynn decided to focus on the web version of his infamous "Needles for Teeth" column. Half blog, half meth-stoked rant, "Needles" pokes merciless fun at cops, the Disney... More >>
• Best Online Gadfly
  Michael Zinna
  As scabrous as it is scoop-minded, Michael Zinna's website focuses on the alleged public and private follies of the powers that be in Jefferson County, including the county commissioners and the county attorney. Unlike many oddball crusader sites, this one's fun to read -- so fun that Zinna's... More >>
• Best Hair on a TV Personality -- Male
  Ed Greene, Channel 4
  When veteran weather forecaster Ed Greene (not to be confused with Tom Green, or Larry Green) was younger, his dark helmet of tresses seemed utterly inorganic, as if it had been fired in a kiln just before airtime. His mane hasn't decreased in size over the years; it remains thick and robust,... More >>
• Best Hair on a TV Personality -- Female
  Angie Austin, Channel 2
  The theory that blondes enjoy life more than those with hue-impaired mops holds true when it comes to Angie Austin, who handles both weather duties and entertainment news at her station. She seems perpetually on the verge of bursting into raucous guffaws -- and her zingy coiffure, complete with... More >>
• Best Hair on a Departing TV Personality
  Phil Keating
  Best hair? Make that best everything. For a decade, Phil Keating was the arousing, carousing, good-time party boy of the Denver news community, and he filled this position with the poise of an Armani model. Now that he's moved from Channel 31, a Fox affiliate, to a Dallas-based gig as a Fox News... More >>
• Best Item on the Resumé of a TV Personality
  Kirk Montgomery , Channel 9
  In entertainment reporter Kirk Montgomery's online biography, accessible at www.9news.com, he trumpets the "dubious distinction" of having served as Pauly Shore's body double in the widely disparaged 1989 movie Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge. Any flick that features Morgan Fairchild as a... More >>
• Best Glasses on a TV Personality
  Greg Moody, Channel 4
  Specs the size of Greg Moody's went out of vogue after Elton John started paying more attention to his rugs than his peepers and Harry Caray hollered about the Cubs for the last time. Kudos to Moody for being impervious to changing trends -- because in his case, the eyes have it. More >>
• Best Name for a TV Personality
  Bazi Kanani , Channel 9
  This weekend anchor's handle sounds like a lost lyric from "The Name Game." Shirley, Shirley, bo Birley! Banana fana fo Firley! Fee fi mo Mirley! Bazi Kanani! More >>
• Best-Dressed TV Personality
  Libby Weaver , Channel 31
  Libby Weaver, her station's co-anchor, is blessed with a frame on which everything looks good, with the possible exception of Ron Zappolo. "We're a Gap family," said Weaver, a working mother with a young and growing clan, when interviewed last year by the Denver Post. But the Gap never looked so... More >>
• Best-Dressed Set for a TV Newscast
  Channel 4
  When Channel 4 decided to modernize its decor last year, the station boldly rejected the more-is-more mentality that makes so many newscasts today look like incomprehensibly busy computer screens. In the place of such TV cliches, designers introduced clean, crisp visuals and a backdrop that... More >>
• Best Career Switch for a TV Reporter
  Julie Hayden
  As a radio correspondent and then a reporter for Channel 7, Julie Hayden covered some of the town's biggest stories, from the JonBenét Ramsey murder to the Columbine killings, and she did so with professionalism and aplomb. But after years of pumping sources for information, she finally... More >>
• Best TV Newscast -- Morning
  Channel 9
  On many days, news is secondary to shenanigans on Channel 9's ultra-popular morning news block. On an early March broadcast, for example, a gaggle of NFL mascots turned Kathy Sabine's weather forecast and Drew Soicher's sports segment into a complete shambles. Such absurdity would be highly... More >>
• Best TV Newscast -- Night
  Channel 4
  Since the arrival of new general manager Walt DeHaven, Channel 4 has exhibited more vitality and ambition than at any time in recent memory, and the quality of its 10 p.m. offering has climbed as a result. Anchor Jim Benemann, hijacked from Channel 9, has proven to be a key addition, and the... More >>
• Best TV Investigative Reporter
  Brian Maass, Channel 4
  All too often, investigative reports on local TV stations are frivolous attention-getters more focused on attracting viewers during ratings periods than doing anything of substance. Maass's work is an exception to this rule. He regularly comes up with stories that are as solid as they are... More >>
• Best TV Sports Program
  Rocky Mountain Sports Report, Fox Sports Rocky Mountain
  For those Denverites who don't want to wait through news and wade through weather to get to sports, Rocky Mountain Sports Report, on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, provides immediate gratification, not to mention a much more in-depth presentation than is available on any of the other local... More >>
• Best TV Sportscaster
  Vic Lombardi, Channel 4
  Many Denver television personalities are severely lacking in the "personality" part of the equation. Not so Vic Lombardi, who makes every sporting event he covers seem more interesting because he infuses his descriptions with energy and enthusiasm. Steve Atkinson, a competent but fairly bland... More >>
• Best TV Anchor
  Bertha Lynn, Channel 7
  Bertha Lynn has been on Denver television long enough to have made a cameo in both the 1980 version of Stephen King's The Shining -- the one starring Jack Nicholson -- and a 1997 TV remake headlined by Steven Weber (apparently the poor man's Jack Nicholson). Still, longevity and experience are... More >>
• Best TV Weathercaster
  Dave Fraser, Channel 2
  At most local stations, elaborate climate-reading gizmos get in the way of the simple, straightforward dissemination of information; watching such weather updates is like trying to figure out if it's going to rain tomorrow by buying a ticket to Laserium. Dave Fraser, on the other hand, is... More >>
• Best Radio Talk-Show Host
  Dan Drayer, Colorado Public Radio
  Talk is a rare commodity on talk radio these days; it's usually overshadowed by yelling, screaming, one-upmanship and random examples of verbal abuse. But talk still rules on Colorado Matters, which is heard twice daily on KCFR and other stations on the news-talk half of Colorado Public Radio's... More >>
• Best Radio Talk-Show Host -- Sports
  Jim Armstrong, 560/ESPN
  A veteran sports columnist at the Denver Post, Jim Armstrong alternates with fellow Post-er Mark Kiszla on The Press Box, a morning-drive show helmed by recent import Tim Neverett. Armstrong doesn't have a typical radio voice, but he's turned out to be an excellent communicator, presenting... More >>
• Best Departed Talk-Radio Host
  Greg Dobbs
  Greg Dobbs, who left KNRC earlier this year after an ultra-gross health scare, was a political progressive by Denver talk-radio standards, yet he wasn't a knee-jerk pinko. He was able to eloquently express his opinions even as he equitably refereed debates between people who disagreed with him... More >>
• Best Oldies DJ
  Da Boogieman, KXKL/KOOL 105
  He looks like a combination of Santa Claus and Ed Asner, his real identity is kept a mystery, and his on-air shtick is lifted straight from the Wolfman Jack School of deejaying. We don't care: Da Boogieman's funny. He reigns over the airwaves from 7 p.m. to midnight, weeknights on KOOL --... More >>
• Best New Radio Station
  KCUV/Radio 1510
  KCUV, which was launched late last year by the same folks who brought us KNRC, is doing a much better job of living up to its potential than is its sister station. The outlet features a wide range of music that fits under the Americana umbrella -- country, alternative country, blues and plenty... More >>
• Best New-Music Radio Station
  KVCU/Radio 1190
  Many aspects of Radio 1190, a station affiliated with the University of Colorado, are deserving of praise: its commitment to promoting interesting concerts in Denver and Boulder; the presence of specialty shows such as a.side//b.side, which celebrates the art of the mix tape; and an unpolished... More >>
• Best Radio DJ
  Pete MacKay, KQMT/99.5 The Mountain
  In the Mountain's commercials and promo spots, the station is portrayed as nothing less than a transcendent, primitive, spiritual force -- not some tawdry way to deliver customers to advertisers. And while that may be a stretch, as the only commercial rock station to take a sincere interest in... More >>
• Best Fount of Rock-and-Roll Knowledge
  Raechel Donahue, KQMT/99.5 The Mountain
  Someone on the planet may know more about rock and roll than Raechel Donahue, but it's doubtful. Because her husband, the late Tom Donahue, gave birth to the FM-radio revolution in the '60s in San Francisco, she's been on the front lines of the movement since before the beginning. And her... More >>
• Best Daily Newspaper Investigative Reporter
  David Migoya, Denver Post
  Subjects of stories with something to hide had better hope they don't receive a phone call from David Migoya, because he's the journalistic equivalent of a stalker, pursuing every stray fact until he makes it his own. His reports about the meatpacking industry have been some of the most... More >>
• Best Daily Newspaper Gossip Columnist
  Bill Husted, Denver Post
  The transfer of Dick Kreck, Bill Husted's longtime cohort, to a relatively low-profile gig covering local TV and radio, means the Post's two-headed gossip monster is down one cranium, and that's a shame. Fortunately, Husted should be able to keep Denver in dish all by himself. He's a... More >>
• Best Daily Newspaper News Columnist
  Mike Littwin, Rocky Mountain News
  Conservatives may despise Mike Littwin, but they continue to read him -- a tribute not to his politics, but to his writing. Littwin's able to combine thoughtfulness with humor under the most unlikely of circumstances, and he's a fine observer. That's why he's become the Rocky's go-to guy,... More >>
• Best Thing to Come Out of the JOA
  Denver Post Sunday comics
  The joint operating agreement's most amusing development? A great Sunday comics section. See ya in the funny pages. More >>