MFJS Professor Laura Frank Selected to Receive Governor’s Award for Public Service
MFJS Professor and COLab Director Laura Frank speaking at the spring 2025 Wolzien Endowed Lecture. Photo by Hannah Fulk.
Laura Frank, executive director and founder of the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) and Wolzien Visiting Professor of the Practice in Media, Film & Journalism Studies at the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, has been chosen to receive the Governor’s Citizenship Medal for Public Service, the state’s highest honor for civic leadership. Awardees are handpicked by Governor Jared Polis, and this honor recognizes Frank’s decades of work to strengthen democracy through journalism in the state.
“To see journalism honored for public service means so much,” Frank said. “This award really belongs to all the people who work so hard to keep their neighbors informed every day.”
A Colorado native and former investigative reporter, Frank founded COLab to support collaboration among local newsrooms, now connecting nearly 200 outlets statewide. Her leadership continues to advance public trust, civic engagement, and the vital role of local news in our daily lives.
Learn more about Frank and her work: https://liberalarts.du.edu/about/people/laura-r-frank
