AURORA | The Sentinel was honored Saturday among journalists from four states for work the 118-year-old newspaper has done in the last couple of years to ensure reporters can hold governments accountable for violating open meetings laws.
The Society of Professional Journalists honored the Sentinel Saturday with its annual First Amendment Award for the Sentinel team of journalists, attorneys and activists who have helped empower all Colorado news media to hold governments accountable for open meetings laws.
In addition Sentinel staffers were honored with top awards at the Denver SPJ event, competing against large news organizations across four states.
The basis for the First Amendment Award stems from a court case linked to when then-Councilmember Juan Marcano initiated censure proceedings against former Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky in early 2022.
The controversy came after Jurinsky told a regional talk radio show host how she had encouraged then-police chief Vanessa Wilson to replace Deputy Chief Darin Parker. Jurinsky also criticized Wilson’s leadership of the Aurora Police Department, referring to the chief as “trash.”
Marcano accused Jurinsky of violating a section of the City Charter that prohibits council members from meddling in the appointment of employees who fall under the authority of the city manager.
A supermajority vote of the council to censure Jurinsky would have been required before Jurinsky could be punished for her statements. However — during a closed-door meeting on March 14, 2022 — a majority of the council voted to halt the censure process and pay more than $16,000 in fees for an attorney hired by Jurinsky, according to previous Sentinel reports and court documents.
Council rules stipulate that, while an executive session could be called to receive legal advice regarding the process of disciplining an elected official, “no action or decision may occur in the executive session.”
Colorado’s Open Meetings Law also limits what city councils are allowed to do outside of the public eye and generally prohibits groups from adopting “any proposed policy, position, resolution, rule, regulation or formal action” in secret.
Because the council’s actions appeared to violate the state Open Meetings Law, the Sentinel requested the electronic recording of this private meeting from the city.
The city refused, saying that the recording was “privileged attorney-client communication and is exempt from disclosure.”
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Elizabeth Beebe Volz ruled in 2023 that the city did not have to release the recording.
A trio of Colorado appellate judges overturned Volz’s ruling, saying among other things that the district court made a “clear error” when it found that the council’s secret vote did not violate state law.
The court demanded the city release the tapes.
The city appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, which did not make clear the issue of releasing the tapes. But the high court did make clear that a complaint by the city, insisting that the Sentinel did not have standing in the case as a “person,” was wrong. The effect of that ruling is that the Sentinel is able to collect attorney fees when it prevails.
The high court ruling in the Sentinel’s favor empowers all Colorado media to win back lawyer fees when they prevail against governments trying to evade state open meeting laws.
“This is an important win for the public’s right to know,” Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, said in December when the decision was handed down.
Guaranteeing that news entities have standing in the law ensures journalists, backed by their newsrooms, can pursue issues regarding government transparency and accountability.
SPJ Board Director Kara Mason, who while at the Sentinel was a reporter for the story, said Saturday while presenting the award that the award, for the first time, was presented a “citizen” award, since the high court ruled that newspapers are now “citizens” under the law, and eligible to recoup court costs if the newspaper prevails.
“This important victory for journalism was the result of dogged determination by Sentinel reporters and editors, including Max Levy, Mason, Carina Julig and Philip Poston,” Sentinel Editor Dave Perry said previously. “The impressive open-records and court victories are the result of skilled persistence by Colorado media attorneys Steve Zansberg, Rachael Johnson, from the Reporters’ Committee for the Freedom of the Press, and open-records and meetings activist Jeff Roberts of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. They deserve the credit for allowing us to keep pressing for the secret meeting tapes and an opportunity to tell the public what happened on March 14, 2022.”
The SPJ program also honored former Denver journalist Fred Brown, who died last year after a long career in the metro media market, particularly focusing on journalism ethics. Also honored were Linda Shapley, for a lifetime achievement of promoting journalism while at top newspapers and colleges in Colorado, and 9News veteran reporter Jeremy Jojola, as journalist of the year.
Sentinel journalists won other top honors this year for work published in 2025. Competing against big newsrooms across four states, the Sentinel was also honored with:
• First place in breaking news for coverage by reporter Cassandra Ballard on immigration protests in Aurora.
• Second place in sports news for coverage by Sports Editor Courtney Oakes of the Regis Jesuit High School soccer team journey to state championships.
• First place for columns by Editor Dave Perry, covering a gambit of humorous and political issues. “In these troubled times, it’s a great diversion to read the laugh-out-loud lines by Dave Perry,” judges said.
• Second place for best place headline writing by Perry, with judges referring to the submissions as “puntastic”.
• Second place for political writing for a story about a city council member’s racist videos and a local election, by Ballard
“The awards mark the work we do every day to push past a tsunami of misinformation, disinformation and all flavors of propaganda posing as facts,” Perry said. “The journalism tabbed on Saturday by dozens of reporters, editors and photographers highlights the critical role of quality journalism for every Colorado community and its residents.”