By Shannon Lukens for Steamboat Radio News/Blizzard Broadcasting.

 

Congratulations to Carol “Shine” Atha, who is this year’s Hazie Werner Award winner. She is recognized and honored for her many years of service to the Yampa Valley.

Shine Atha will be honored Feb. 24 at the Steamboat Art Museum. Previous Hazie Werner Award recipients and the public are invited to attend.

 

Here’s more from Steamboat Resort; Feb. 13, 2026.

 

Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation (SSRC) has selected Carol “Shine” Atha as the 2026 Hazie Werner Award recipient honoring her decades of service to the Yampa Valley. The award recognizes local women who embody the legacy of Hazie Werner, the matriarch of the Werner family for which Mt. Werner is named, through volunteerism, community commitment, and generosity. These qualities have helped shape Steamboat Springs into the supportive community it is today.

 

“Shine leads from behind the scenes,” says past award winner Nancy Mucklow. “She quietly identifies community needs and ensures they’re met, supporting land issues, the arts, libraries, health and human services — always with humility and grace.”

 

Shine grew up east of Castle Rock and studied theater at Colorado State University. After visiting friends in Steamboat in the early 1970s, she moved to the valley in 1972 with all possessions packed into a Volkswagen Beetle and quickly became involved with local nonprofits as she made Steamboat her home. Her volunteer work would come to reflect her rural roots and passion for the arts.

Her first board role was with the Steamboat Springs Council of the Arts (now Steamboat Creates) during the Save the Depot campaign which prevented the demolition of the historic Depot building and enabled its rehabilitation for use as a full-time community arts center. She later served on the founding board of Perry-Mansfield, contributing to fundraising efforts to purchase the campus, and joined the early board of the Community Agriculture Alliance, helping guide the decision to take on the Yampa Valley Co-op’s food program. “It was a risky decision at the time, but doing so has led to a phenomenal outlet for people to buy food and products from local producers,” said Shine. She has also served on the Yampa Valley Community Foundation Board of Trustees and currently sits on the Colorado New Play Festival Board.

 

Beyond her board service, Shine has quietly supported numerous nonprofits with her time and philanthropy, including Friends of the Yampa, the Routt County Council on Aging, Routt County Fair, Sheep Dog Trials, Routt County United Way, Literary Sojourn, Strings Music Festival, and local schools. She and her husband Russ volunteered for years at the Routt County Fair, photographing every livestock auction participant with their animals and buyers.

Shine has also been a familiar face at Ski Haus for 25 years, where her warm welcome and encouragement of community involvement became part of the store’s culture.

 

“Hazie represents being welcoming, friendly, and supportive,” Shine says. “I hope future generations embrace her spirit and recognize the generous, caring community we have in the Yampa Valley and choose to give back in whatever way they can.”

 

Shine joins 37 women who have received the Hazie Werner Award since 1989. Previous recipients include: Skeeter Werner Walker, Katy Rodolph Wyatt, Eleanor Bliss, Carol Baily, Lucile Bogue, Criss Fetcher, Dorothy Wither (posthumously), Sureva Towler, Rita Valentine (posthumously), Geneva Taylor, Carol Schaffer, Gloria Gossard, Jayne Hill, Elaine Gay, Millie Beall, Arianthe Stettner, Wanda Redmond, Margi Briggs-Casson, Margaret ”Poogie” Dawes (posthumously), Nancy Stahoviak, Carol Booth Fox, Diane Moore, Susan E. Birch, Christine Painter, Marsha Daughenbaugh, Sarah Floyd, Nancy Kramer, Deb Werner, Jane Howell, Betse Grassby, Jan Fritz, Gretchen Van De Carr, Jane Romberg, Nancy Mucklow, Kate Nowak, Paula Cooper Black, and Nancy Gray.

 

SSRC will also award two Snowball Community Grants—one selected by SSRC and one by Shine. Shine has directed her $10,000 grant to Northwest Colorado Health for home and hospice care, while SSRC’s $10,000 grant will support Integrated Community.

 

Shine Atha and the Snowball Grant recipients will be honored February 24th at the Steamboat Art Museum from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Previous Hazie Werner Award recipients and the public are invited to attend.