Call it a sign of the times that a panel of distinguished judges has awarded a team of journalists at The Denver Post the grand prize in Editor & Publisher magazine’s Photos of the Year competition, citing, in part, the newspaper’s use of video in its entry, “Ian Fisher: American Soldier.”

Unfortunately for the Post, while the population of Colorado is rising, its newspaper circulation is falling, following a national trend that began in the good years, before the recession. Consider: Eight years ago, the circulation of the Sunday Denver Post was 801,315. Today, roughly 305,000 fewer people get the Sunday edition, as Westword notes in an analysis of disappointing new newspaper-industry data.

Yet there is a positive spin on the Post’s numbers. Although circulation was down five percent to eight percent since the Rocky Mountain News shuttered its operations earlier this year, the Post has captured the hearts of 86 percent of former Rocky subscribers.

As Westword media critic Michael Roberts notes: “Some of the methods used to come up with this figure are debatable, but there’s no doubt the Post has held onto far more Rocky readers than practically anyone expected—me included.”