Welcome to The Denver Gazette, Kiz.

The Denver Gazette announced Wednesday it hired Colorado sports writing legend Mark Kiszla as its newest columnist. Kiszla brings more than four decades of experience writing about Colorado sports to The Denver Gazette’s award-winning sports team.

He will write three to four columns weekly, the first of which will appear in early February.

“We are thrilled to add the legendary ‘Kiz’ to our award-winning sports department,” said Chris Reen, president and CEO of Clarity Media Group. “With his compelling insights and knowledge of professional sports in Colorado, along with his signature honesty and wit, Kiz is one of the most respected sports columnists of our time.

“We’ve made significant investments in our sports writing team to ensure we are delivering the most trusted information. Kiz joins Woody Paige and a deep bench of talented sports reporters and columnists, making our sports department the most formidable in Colorado.”

Kiszla joins The Denver Gazette after 40 years of writing for the Denver Post. He’s covered three Super Bowl champions, three Stanley Cup champions, one college football championship and Colorado’s most recent world champion, the 2023 Denver Nuggets.

Kiszla twice has been named the top sports columnist in the country by the Society of Professional Journalists and four times as Colorado’s sports writer of the year.

“I’ve been covering the sports teams in this dusty old Cowtown since 1983 and I am thrilled to now be joining the fastest-growing sports media team in Colorado,” Kiszla said. “The Denver Gazette’s sports team is incredibly knowledgeable and talented — with the likes of Woody Paige, Paul Klee and more — and I am thrilled to continue to provide analysis and commentary about Colorado sports that goes well beyond scores and stats.”

The Denver Gazette launched three years ago as a full-service digital newspaper that provides readers with robust local news and thought-provoking opinions. With one of the largest journalism staffs in Colorado, The Denver Gazette was recently recognized as one of the 10 fastest-growing news and media websites in the country, posting a 535.7% growth year-over-year for an annual readership of 27.4 million people.

Kiszla will cover everything from the Broncos to Buffs, Nuggets, Avalanche and the Olympics. His opinion carries weight from the bleachers to the coaches and executives who run Denver’s beloved teams.

“The big winners here are Colorado’s sports fans. Between Kiz, Woody Paige, Chris Tomasson and the rest of our fantastic staff, the talent and institutional knowledge in Denver Gazette sports now rivals any in the country,” Denver Gazette sports editor Paul Klee said. “Our sports scene has never been more dynamic than it is right now. A fanbase with Nikola Jokic, Nathan MacKinnon and Coach Prime deserves coverage like we have at The Denver Gazette.”