By Mark Harden / SPJ Colorado Pro communications chair

Hello again, and welcome to the almost-fall edition of the newsletter of the Colorado Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Speaking of almost fall, this is the time of year when we launch our programming schedule for the next 12 months. SPJ’s revered Code of Ethics is up for revision. And SPJ26, our society’s national conference, is just around the corner.

Read on for the latest. (For more, visit our website.)

2026-27 programs kick off with ‘No Newsroom Required’

Marco Cummings, SPJ Colorado Pro’s programs chair, has been busy this summer filling in our events calendar for the coming 12 months.

We already have one 2026-27 event under our belts. On Sept. 1, an audience of about 40 turned out at the Denver Press Club as we hosted “No Newsroom Required: The Ins and Outs of Freelance Journalism,” a conversation with veteran freelance reporter and author Steve Knopper on how to build and maintain a freelance career. The event at the Denver Press Club drew a crowd that ranged from students to seasoned journalists. If you missed it, click here for the audio. And click here for a report on the discussion from Andy Green of FoxTalk.

Go ‘On the Record’ at Westword

Our next event is on Monday, Sept. 28. Join SPJ Colorado Pro and Westword for an evening of music, conversation and connection with Colorado’s journalism community. Bring your favorite record, grab some refreshments and spend a minute discussing music and journalism with colleagues. “On the Record: A BYO Vinyl Journalism Meetup at Westword” will be held at the Westword offices, 1278 Lincoln St., Suite 100, Denver, CO 80203. Click here for details and to RSVP.

Chapter president talks to FoxTalk

SPJ Colorado Pro President Doug Bell presented a three-hour online boot camp in August to staff of the student publication FoxTalk at Community College of Aurora. Bell, a longtime editor who also spent three decades as an adjunct journalism instructor, led a two-part reporting and journalism-judgment training for contributors to FoxTalk, which was founded earlier this year by editor and CCA student Andy Green.

SPJ Colorado Pro sends students to CPA convention; tribute to ‘Ethical’ Fred

Our friends at the Colorado Press Association (the statewide trade group for news outlets) held their three-day Local News Solutions 2026 convention at Delta Hotels Denver Thornton in late August in partnership with the Colorado Media Project and the Colorado News Collaborative, drawing hundreds of Colorado journalists, students and funders for networking, panels, education and inspiration.

As part of our education mission, SPJ Colorado Pro paid for five state journalism students to attend the conference. Several of our chapter board members were on hand for the convention to sign up new members, take part in programs and represent their news outlets during the Better News Media Awards dinner. And we were touched that our late friend and leader Fred Brown was inducted by Colorado Politics reporter Marianne Goodland (SPJ Colorado Pro Keeper of the Flame honoree in 2023) into the CPA Hall of Fame. Click here for Better News Media Awards winners.

Congratulations, Michael Braithwaite!

Speaking of the CPA convention, Michael Braithwaite, one of our new chapter board members, walked away with the association’s annual Rising Star Award, not to mention a pair of competitive awards in CPA’s Better News Media contest for data journalism and feature story. Michael’s day job is as a reporter and digital strategist for the Denver Gazette.

Congratulations, Julia Wildman of Colorado Mesa University!

National SPJ has named Julia Wildman, a senior at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, as the recipient of the 2026 Robert D.G. Lewis First Amendment Award. 

Wildman is being honored for her outstanding work advancing press freedom and transparency in student journalism.

“Our student honoree exemplifies the talent, curiosity and courage that will shape the next generation of newsrooms,” said SPJ National President Chris R. Vaccaro.

The Lewis First Amendment Award recognizes a student SPJ member who has demonstrated exceptional dedication defending the First Amendment through journalism.

Click here for more on Wildman and the award.

Chapter board members attend SPJ Leadership Institute

SPJ Colorado Pro board members Isabel Guzman and Marco participated in the newly restored SPJ Leadership Institute in Indianapolis in July.

Alongside chapter leaders from across the country, they took part in discussions on leadership, chapter growth, strategic planning, membership engagement, press freedom and journalism advocacy. Participants also developed Leadership Action Plans to bring new ideas and initiatives back to their local chapters.

SPJ Code of Ethics revision

In August, the national SPJ Ethics Committee proposed revisions to the SPJ Code of Ethics, opening a public review and feedback period on the first proposed changes to the code since 2014. The proposed revisions and resources explaining the draft are available on the SPJ Code of Ethics Revision Project webpage.  

The ethics committee retained the current code’s four core principles – Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently and Be Accountable and Transparent – while updating and expanding guidance on issues including verification, artificial intelligence, misinformation and disinformation, source transparency and the personal accountability of individual journalists. The code has guided journalists for more than a century and is used by journalists, news organizations, educators and students worldwide. 

Fred Brown was a former chair of the SPJ Ethics Committee, helped rewrite its Code of Ethics for journalists, and wrote and edited SPJ’s ethics book. National SPJ has renamed its national award for ethics in journalism in recognition of Fred, and the Colorado chapter has created a new ethics award, named, “The Ethical Fred,” to be presented for the first time in 2027.

The SPJ Ethics Committee is gathering feedback through an online form. The committee will accept and incorporate feedback, as appropriate, until Sept. 14 in anticipation of a late-September SPJ Board of Directors vote and, pending the board’s approval, an online member vote from Oct. 1-4.  

Click here for more on the proposed ethics changes.

SPJ26 coming Oct. 1-4 in Columbus, Ohio

We’re less than a month away from SPJ’s annual national conference, drawing journalists, students and allies from across the country for deep-dive sessions, workshops, panel discussions, inspiring speakers and networking. Click here for more information on SPJ26 and how to attend. And click here for more on Freelance Central, the conference-within-a-conference for freelancers.

Early word on 2027 SPJ awards event

Contest chair Deb Hurley Brobst has her eye on an April weekend for next year’s annual awards reception in Denver. That’s where we present the Top of the Rockies awards recognizing the best of journalism in four states, as well as our chapter individual awards, including the Ethical Fred mentioned earlier, and our student scholarships. We should have a date picked out soon.  

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And that’ll do it for this edition of our newsletter. Please join us at SPJ Colorado Pro and help us further our mission of better journalism. Colorado chapter membership is now included in your national membership at no extra charge. Click here for information on how to become a member.