Student wins Hearst Foundation Enterprise Writing award
Bowditch's winning article, "," was published in ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Boulder's student-run news site, , last April. The article outlines claims of questionable—and even abusive—practices by Resurrection Church in Boulder, as well as an affiliated church in Fort Collins. The claims are made by relatives of current members of the churches, and by former church members. Much of the story centers on interviews Bowditch conducted with the father of a member of Resurrection Church, who attributes his graduate loss of contact with his daughter—a former ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Boulder student—to her decade-long involvement with the church.
"This was a follow-up to Charlotte's original reporting on Resurrection Church," said Gil Asakawa, the student media manager who oversees ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Independent. "The story is remarkable in its scope and display of human emotion."
Bowditch, who is an Environmental Studies major and Journalism minor at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Boulder, earned a certificate of merit as a top-10 winner.
The award is the latest in a long list of recogntions for ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Independent and its writers. Bowditch previously received a Mark of Excellence Award from the in 2017 for online in-depth reporting, and ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Independent recieved a 2016 Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press.