Bente Birkeland

Public Affairs Reporter

@BenteBirkeland[email protected]

Bente is an award-winning journalist who joined Colorado Public Radio in August 2018 after a decade of reporting on the Colorado state capitol for the Rocky Mountain Community Radio collaborative and KUNC. In 2017, Bente was named Colorado Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and she was awarded with a National Investigative Reporting Award by SPJ a year later.

Professional Background:

Before joining CPR and KUNC, she was a reporter at KMOX Radio and KOMU TV, and also worked as a research analyst for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Awards:

In 2017, Bente was named Colorado Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and she was awarded with a National Investigative Reporting Award by SPJ a year later. She also won an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2015 for her work on KRCC's series on the Southwest Chief, "Railroad West."

Throughout her career, Bente has been honored with various accolades from the Colorado Broadcaster's Association, the Association of Statehouse Reporter and Editors, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Mortar Board National Honorary Society and the Omicron Delta Epsilon International Economics Honorary Society.

Education:

Bachelor's degree economics with a mathematical emphasis, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Master's degree in journalism, University of Missouri

2020 Legislature Face Mask Plastic Shield
Purplish

The Legislature Strikes Back

Lawmakers returned to work Tuesday in a changed world. The first order of business was to start laying aside most of their bills from the first half of session. The second order of business was to argue passionately about how they’ll work from here on out. And the third was to set a new, pandemic-driven agenda. We discuss it all on this week’s Purplish.
By Bente Birkeland and Andrew Kenney