Best of CASE District VI Award
 

Institution: Metropolitan State University of Denver

Title of entry: Maya monuments speak in signs

About this entry: In March of 2025, we received a submission through our intake form for a publication from Anthropology Professor Richard Sandoval, Ph.D.: "The Ancient Maya Script of Hand Forms Embedded in Figural Art: A Decipherment of Numerals Signed by the Rulers of Altar Q" in the journal Transactions of the Philological Society.

The pitch to Metropolitan State University of Denver's newsroom, RED, was met with some skepticism, as the goal of the newsroom is to achieve external media coverage, and some believed this publication too obscure to appeal to a general audience.

However, the team persisted, recognizing the novelty of the research and hoping the story would help build relationships and encourage faculty members to continue submitting story ideas. The story was published in April 2025 and written by a longtime university freelancer known for his ability to simplify complex research topics.

The story was picked up by Colorado Public Radio, both on radio and online, for a reach of 1.01 million, according to Meltwater. Since then, 13 unique outlets have picked up the story, not just locally but globally. The story has appeared in multiple languages, from publications based in Argentina, France, Romania, Spain, Italy and Brazil. It also landed in national publications, including Yahoo News, with a reach of 55.65 million, Sustainability Times and Earth.com.

The total potential reach for this story, according to Meltwater, is 135.54 million, a number unmatched by any other research-based published in our newsroom’s history.