Awards

New Mexico Jewish Journal Wins 9 Awards — Four 1st Place — at the Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies Contest in Denver — and the 2026 Season Is Just Getting Started

New Mexico Jewish Journal

09 May 2026 — 3 min read

New Mexico Jewish Journal, in its second year, just took home 9 awards by 8 contributors – including 4 first-place wins – from the regional Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies contest. Among 2,000 entries from 100 newsrooms across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, NMJJ competed in the Small Newsroom division. Results were announced Saturday evening, April 25th, at The Slate Hotel Denver. Judges were drawn from Southern California newsrooms; they comment only on first-place winners.

2026 Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies Awards for New Mexico Jewish Journal articles published 2025:

First Place - Religion News With Communal Spirit, Nir Oz Will Rise Again by Bonnie Ellinger. Judge’s remark: “Personal insight into a tragedy that pits many against each other. A must read to bring people to understanding the dynamics from a writer with first hand understanding of the cultural imperative.”
Second Place - Religion News Netanyahu, Evangelicals and Israel by Ron Duncan Hart.
Third Place - Religion News "We Cannot Be Defined by the Hatred of Others," Antisemitism in New Mexico Now by Ellen Marks.

First Place - Religion Feature The Torah in the Tarot by Corinne Joy Brown. Judge's remark: “Historic, informative, expansive, this is so much more than the notion of Jewish infusion in a pop culture phenomenon, it demonstrates adaptability and community we don't always recognize.”
Second Place - Religion Feature A Long Journey Home by Sabra Minkus.

First Place - Politics Feature Cambridge: Where Erasmus Once Tread by Ron Duncan Hart. Judge’s remark: “An educational look at the history of religion-based nationalism and antisemitism. Well sourced.”
Third Place - Politics Feature The Inside Story of the Return of Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo by Bobbie Greene Kilberg.

First Place - Illustration Jacob's Ladder by Gloria Abella Ballen. Judge’s remark: "The struggle feels real in this wonderful, artistic painting."

Second Place - Arts & Food Criticism I Have No Beef with the Manhattan Deli by Judith Fein.

And then: We will have some very exciting news to announce about TWO AW following the American Jewish Press Association 46th Annual Rockower Awards, the "Jewish Pulitzers," at the awards banquet June 4 in New York City at the Center for Jewish History.

UPDATE: NM Jewish Journal Sweeps 2026 NM Press Women Awards, Wins First Prize Publication Award, with Ten First Places Among Forty Total now posted HERE.

Here are the NMPW First Place Awards – drum roll:
First Place - Personal Essay Generational Trauma in the Age of Fascism by Didi Rosenthal
First Place - Social Issues Our Kafkaesque Immigration System 2.0 by Emily Alvarez.
First Place - Feature Story - Online We Cannot Be Defined by the Hatred of Others," Antisemitism in New Mexico Here and Now by Ellen Marks
First Place - Columns, General A Jewish and Navajo Marriage at the New Year of the Trees by Diane Joy Schmidt.
First Place - Graphics Apples for Rosh HaShanah by Diane Joy Schmidt.
First Place - Religion Netanyahu, American Evangelicals and Israel by Ron Duncan Hart.
First Place - History Ken Elsas Mayers and his American Jewish Story by Ron Duncan Hart.
First Place - Politics/Government The Inside Story of the Return of Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo by Bobbie Greene Kilberg.
First Place - Reviews Attending a Wagner Opera Can Be Fun and Not Ponderous by Judith Fein.
First Place - Style A Dazzling Fashion Show for the Most Famous Jewish Mother in the World by Judith Fein.

Two years in. 20 First-place awards. More to come.

TIP JAR

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Community Supporters of the NM Jewish Journal include:
Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico
Congregation Albert
Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque
The Institute for Tolerance Studies
Jewish Federation of El Paso and Las Cruces
Temple Beth Shalom
Congregation B'nai Israel
Shabbat with Friends: Recapturing Together the Joy of Shabbat
New Mexico Jewish Historical Society

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