Winners in the Society of Professional Journalists 2016 Region 9 Top of the Rockies contest will be notified by March 15.

According to contest coordinator Deb Hurley Brobst, this year’s contest drew 941 entries from print, broadcast and digital journalists in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming. Brobst said last year’s contest had 784 entries.

This year’s entries were judged by SPJ chapters in Minnesota and Hawaii.

The TOR awards party will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at the Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm Place. In addition to the contest awards, recipients of the four major annual awards – Palmer Hoyt Journalist of the Year, Keeper of the Flame, First Amendment, Journalism Educator of the Year – will be announced.

The 2016 college student Colorado SPJ Pro scholarship winnners will also be introduced.

The awards program will feature a silent auction, which is the annual fundraiser for the Colorado chapter.