The Denver alt-weekly writer won a 2004 medal in the nondaily newspaper category for her story “Nowhere Boy,” which chronicles the struggle of an adoptive family to obtain mental health services for their severely emotionally troubled son. The article "touches on funding of the mental-health system, high-risk adoption and the various mental disorders and conditions linked to fetal alcohol syndrome. It’s a compelling subject done nicely," the judges commented. The awards are sponsored by the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families.