UW’s Western Confluence Magazine Places in Regional Journalism Competition

Western Confluence magazine, a publication of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources’ Ruckelshaus Institute at the University of Wyoming, won three awards in the Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies competition.

The contest received nearly 2,100 entries from over 100 news outlets and 25 freelancers.

Christine Peterson’s “Alarm, Apathy, and Hope for Action: As chronic wasting disease spreads, wildlife managers plea for strategies that could work” earned third place in the agriculture and environment feature writing category.

Jill Bergman’s linocut of pronghorn that accompanied “Game on the Range: Small tweaks in USDA programs support working lands and migration in Wyoming” won second place in the illustration category. This is the second year she has received recognition for her linocuts in Western Confluence.

Claire Baldwin’s watercolor illustration, commissioned for “Managers Unite: The Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee celebrates six decades of cooperative conservation,” won third place in the illustration category.

All three awardees were featured in Issue 14 of Western Confluence, which explored wildlife conservation in large landscapes around the world.

“I love that I get to work with talented artists alongside incredible writers, so it’s a joy to see the magazine’s visual content recognized alongside its top-tier reporting,” says Birch Malotky, editor-in-chief of Western Confluence.

Top of the Rockies is a regional, multiplatform contest for reporters and news organizations in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Western Confluence competes in the small newsroom division.

Western Confluence is an annual print magazine that explores the Rocky Mountain West’s most confounding natural resource issues while providing support and training to the next generation of environmental storytellers. Print and email subscriptions are free to interested readers.