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

Purplish

Mail Ballot Blues

Some people worry the rapid move to mail ballots nationally is inviting massive fraud. Others fear postal slowdowns could sabotage the whole system. The Purplish team takes a local look at the reality behind the fears here in Colorado, a state with a long-running tradition of universal mail ballots.
By Bente Birkeland, Caitlyn Kim, and Andrew Kenney