Graphics
Robert Garcia / Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Robert Garcia and the pleasant climes of Colorado have combined in a parade of award-winning graphics in the Daily Sentinel.

"My co-workers, family and friends often ask me, 'Robert, when are you going to the big paper, to Denver or Atlanta?,' " he said.

"My standard response is that the newspaper and ink are the same here in Grand Junction as they are in Atlanta or New York. The only limitations I have are those I put on myself."

Even for Garcia, it has been a special year.

He won his fifth Best of Cox Award for graphics while also being honored twice in the Colorado Press Association's annual contest. In the category for newspapers with circulation of 10,000 to 100,000, he won first place in graphics and a Shining Star Award. The latter goes to one journalist in the circulation category and is awarded for the body of work over his or her newspaper career.

Garcia, a Colorado native, earned a degree in fine arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1978. He interned at the Boulder Daily Camera and joined the Daily Sentinel in 1984.

Garcia received a fellowship in 1991 to study at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla.

He and his wife, Dolores, have two children, Reyes and Primavera.