×
×
homepage logo

The Mirror hauls away state newspaper awards

By Staff | Apr 25, 2007

The Mirror and its staff members won top honors in eight categories and brought home the prestigious sweepstakes award as the top newspaper in its division at the Kansas Press Association’s annual Awards of Excellence competition.

“These awards are a testament to the work put in, week in and week out, by our staff members and their commitment to readers of The Mirror,” said John Taylor, the newspaper’s editor.

The sweepstakes award was The Mirror’s fourth in five years.

The Mirror took first place in:

  • Government/political story: “City files lawsuit to block road vote,” by former editor and publisher Caroline Trowbridge
  • Youth story: “Angling for a law,” by former news editor Lisa Scheller
  • Education story: “Angling for a law,” by Scheller
  • Sports story: “Baska endures rough week on, off court,” by Shawn Linenberger
  • Sports feature story: “Taz-mania,” by Linenberger
  • Best newspaper Web site
  • Public notices
  • News and writing excellence

Judges had high praise for The Mirror, noting in their comments, “A pleasure reading this paper, front to back. Virtually every story written well, inviting. Quality continues through news and features inside. Obviously makes an effort to quality writing. Lots of style.”

Overall, The Mirror won 27 awards in 22 categories that were judged.

Other awards for the newspaper were:

Second places: government/political story by Scheller; sports feature, by Scheller; headline writing, by Trowbridge; photo illustration, by Scheller and Trowbridge; infographic, by Karl Gehring; layout and design; best front page.

Third places: news story, by Linenberger; religion story, by Scheller; headline writing, by Linenberger; feature photo, by Scheller; sports photo by Linenberger.

Honorable mentions: editorial writing, by Trowbridge; agriculture story, by Scheller; youth story, by Scheller; education story, by Nicole Kelley and Scheller; sports column writing, by Linenberger; best use of photos; sports pages.

The Awards of Excellence contest drew more than 3,200 entries from 90 newspapers across the state. Awards were handed out Saturday at the state press association’s annual convention in Topeka.

The Mirror’s sister publication, The Basehor Sentinel, also won a sweepstakes award as the best overall newspaper in its circulation category, as did the Lawrence Journal-World.