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Mirror earns top honors in state press contest

By Staff | Apr 22, 2004

Staff members at The Mirror newspaper were honored on Saturday by the Kansas Press Association with numerous awards for the staff’s work during 2003.

The news staff brought home the coveted Sweepstakes Award, the highest presented in the KPA’s annual Awards of Excellence competition. The staff also won Sweepstakes last year.

“For two years running, our staff has been named the best in the state among our peer newspapers,” said Caroline Trowbridge, editor and publisher. “It’s a tremendous honor that the state press association recognized the hard work the staff puts in, week in and week out.

“In February, we were honored by the Inland Press Foundation as the best in the nation among non-dailies in our circulation category, and again we’ve been named best in the state. I’m so proud to work with this staff.”

The Mirror brought home 10 first-place honors in the contest, which featured 34 categories. Newspapers are divided into daily and non-daily divisions, as well as circulation divisions.

The Mirror won first places in these categories:

  • Feature writing, for a personality profile on longtime Tonganoxie physician Philip Stevens. Stevens, along with his wife, Betty, and sister, Marie Huey, attended the awards presentation. Stevens is the father of Mirror news editor Lisa Scheller.
  • News writing, for Scheller’s story about survivors of the May 2003 tornado that ripped through southern Leavenworth County, as well as Wyandotte County.
  • Government coverage, for Trowbridge’s coverage of last spring’s city and school elections.
  • Religion coverage, for Scheller’s story about a number of women in the area who have become ministers in mid-life.
  • Education writing, for work by Trowbridge, Scheller and reporter Shawn Linenberger on results of a survey given to members of the Tonganoxie High School Class of 2003.
  • Sports feature writing, for Linenberger’s story about a week with the THS football team.
  • News and writing throughout the entire newspaper.
  • Feature photography, for a photograph that Scheller made at Tonganoxie Days 2003 of young dancers.
  • Use of photos for work throughout the entire newspaper.
  • Newspaper Web Site: www.tonganoxiemirror.com.

In addition, the staff took home seven second-place awards:

  • Feature writing, for a story on miniature horses by Scheller.
  • Investigative writing, for a package of stories and editorials on the topic of bullying in Tonganoxie schools.
  • Photo package, for three photographs Scheller made at Tonganoxie Days 2003.
  • Feature package, for the story and photographs about Dr. Stevens.
  • Design and layout for work throughout the paper.
  • Front page.
  • General excellence.

Other awards earned by the staff were:

  • Third places: series writing for package of stories the staff did on military men and women and their families; column writing by Trowbridge; sports column writing by Linenberger; and feature package by Trowbridge on an archaeological dig near Tonganoxie.
  • Honorable mentions: editorial writing, agricultural writing, youth coverage, news photography, feature photography, sports photography and editorial pages.

Trowbridge also was elected second vice president of KPA during the press association’s annual business meeting. Trowbridge has been a member of the press association’s board of directors for three years.