The Mountain West News Bureau, a collaborative newsroom made up of public radio stations, took home over a dozen major awards for stories this year.
They include national, regional and statewide awards for coverage of the homeowner insurance crisis, the challenges data centers pose to communities, reactions to immigration policies, and more.
The bureau is a collaboration between partner and affiliate stations in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Reporters and editors received two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. The bureau was also honored by the Public Media Journalists Association, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Society of Professional Journalists’ “Top of the Rockies,” New Mexico Press Women and Idaho Press Club.
The Public Media Journalists Association awarded the Mountain West News Bureau a national first place award for investigative reporting for The West's Insurance Crisis by Rachel Cohen (a bureau reporter based at KUNC in Northern Colorado) and Murphy Woodhouse (a bureau reporter based at Boise State Public Radio).
Cohen also won a second-place award from PMJA for the education feature story, “Music is making a comeback at this Colorado middle school,” and another second-place award for science and technology feature reporting, “Scientists chase storms through the Mountain West to study hail’s growing toll.”
The Radio Television Digital News Association awarded the bureau and partner stations a regional Murrow for best radio news series in a large market for its Wired, Wired West series, which investigated the boom in large AI data centers across the region, and their environmental and economic impacts.
That project, edited by Michael de Yoanna, managing editor of the Mountain West News Bureau, and Tegan Wendland, climate solutions editor at Colorado Public Radio, involved Kaleb Roedel (a bureau reporter based at KUNR in Reno, Nevada) and Hanna Merzbach (a bureau reporter based at Wyoming Public Media) as well as associate partner newsroom reporters Sam Brasch (CPR News) and Greg Hahne at KJZZ in Phoenix.
KJZZ Senior Digital Editor Sky Schaudt also helped edit the online version of the series.
Mountain West News Bureau reporter Yvette Fernandez (based at Nevada Public Radio in Las Vegas) also won a regional Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for her reporting on the impact of immigration crackdowns on the Spanish-language music industry.
As a result of those two regional awards, both stories advance for consideration in the national Edward R. Murrow Awards. The results of that contest will be announced in August. Last year, Fernandez received a national honor in the same category for her reporting on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act for Indigenous people in the Southwest.
The Wired, Wired West series also came in third in the Society of Professional Journalists’ “Top of the Rockies” business enterprise reporting category. Merzbach’s podcast, The Modern West: The Pretty Good House, received third place in that contest’s podcast category. Woodhouse came in first place in that contest’s climate photography/videography category for Cultural Burning and the Wildfire Crisis.
Cohen also won a certificate of merit by the Colorado Broadcast Association for best news coverage of a single event for her reporting on the first day of the 2025 government shutdown at Rocky Mountain National Park and Woodhouse won second place for best broadcast reporter from the Idaho Press Club.
Fernandez is also one of three finalists for the National Association for Hispanic Journalists’ radio/online audio reports for her reporting on the five-fold increase in agreements between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement across the region. The winner of that category will be announced in late July.
Jenny Kinsey (based at KANW in Albuquerque, New Mexico) won two awards for prepared radio reports from New Mexico Press Women: a first-place award for her reporting on gray wolf recovery efforts in Arizona and New Mexico and a second-place award for her coverage of aging and senior care in the region.
So far, the Mountain West News Bureau collaboration has won 14 awards for its coverage in 2025. The bureau has entered additional journalism competitions and is expected to hear results from those later this summer.
