AURORA | Sentinel Colorado will spearhead a first-generation college student news lab this summer, bringing about a dozen budding journalists into a month-long, multimedia “Sentinel Story Sprint.”
The summer event draws in journalism, marketing and social media interns from across the state to work under seasoned editors on a variety of stories and projects. Most of the students are first-generation college students and students of color. The program is coordinated with the Colorado State University School of Journalism.
The project is made possible by an Advancing Equity in Local News grant from the Colorado Media Project.
“Last year we launched the Sentinel Story Sprint with little time, little money, and the goodwill of volunteer editors,” said CSU Senior Journalism Professor Michelle Ancell, who also sits on the Aurora Sentinel Community Media board of directors. “The result was an energizing experience for the students and newsroom, that also served Aurora with stories that may not have been covered otherwise. It’s exciting to see that those with the Colorado Media Project support this effort so we can formalize and expand the Sprint this summer.”
During the month-long “sprint,’ students will be paired with a seasoned news editor and will focus on stories about the region’s rich cultural diversity and issues affecting ethnic minorities.
This is the second year the Sentinel has produced the Story Sprint program. Last year, student journalists produced stories including a blind historian cataloging progress and challenges made by blind Coloradoans over two centuries, a local master of vegan cuisine and a celebrity woman golf pro and coach.
The Sentinel is a held by a non-profit corporation, created to sustain and grow the 112-year-old newspaper.
“The talent, enthusiasm and dedication these journalists brought to the Sentinel last summer was daunting and inspiring,” said Sentinel Editor Dave Perry. “We’re grateful to the Colorado Media Project for making it possible to expand the program this year.”
Student journalists gave the then-experimental project high marks.
“I’ve never had anybody really go through and edit a story with me, like editors Rob Reuteman and Dave Perry,” participant Braidon Nourse said. “I feel like I learned a lot just from them being able to edit my story in that way.”
Story Sprint was one of numerous projects funded by the grant program.
“These grants support Colorado newsrooms, journalists, and media entrepreneurs in launching new projects and strengthening existing efforts to build a more inclusive local news ecosystem that reflects and serves Colorado’s diverse communities,” said Colorado Media Project grants coordinator Sam Moody in a statement.
Statewide grants totaled $369,300 this year, boosting efforts by news media across the state to build “a more inclusive local news ecosystem that reflects and serves Colorado’s diverse communities,” Moody said.
In addition to the Sentinel Story Sprint program, the Sentinel is also working with a host of other news media organizations across the state serving ethnic readers and focusing on issues important to communities of color. The Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange network project received funding to create an ad-network to help sustain critical newsrooms and coverage.
Other 2024 grant recipients include:
- Boulder Reporting Lab, offering a 10-week internship
- Colorado Chinese News Inc for offering DEI training for newsroom leaders and reporters
- Crestone Eagle Community Media to support service to the San Luis Valley’s Indigenous and Spanish-speaking communities
- KGNU Radio for a paid internship program
- Chalkbeat Colorado to support reach and service to Spanish-speaking caregivers via outreach and coverage in Spanish
- Colorado Community Media in support of “La Ciudad/The City,” a new bilingual newsletter serving Commerce City covering local government, environment, affordable housing and more
- University of Colorado Boulder to support a new class at CU-Boulder that supports rural and BIPOC-led newsrooms
- Colorado News Collaborative to support the Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange, a coalition of independent outlets, in hiring a shared resource to sell advertising and underwriting into member publications, in order to increase their long-term sustainability
- El Comercio de Colorado to support El Comercio’s “Empowering Latinx Voices 2024” initiative in the metro Aurora area.
- Mile High Asian Media for providing journalism and storytelling training to AANHPI students, connecting students with AANHPI journalists as mentors, and publishing student work in AANHPI and mainstream media outlets.