KPA delivered the news individually to entrants last week. Each year, publications across the state submit entries in an array of writing, design and photography categories, to name a few.

Longtime editor Shawn F. Linenberger won several awards in The Mirror’s nondaily division, but Tonganoxie High School contributor also shined for the Tonganoxie newspaper.

Landon Cory, a senior at THS, swept the sports photography category.

A photo from a THS football game against Paola won him first place, while a picture of a Chieftains Stars dancer won him second place. His third-place entry was another football photo. That one was from a game against Bonner Springs.

Shawn F. Linenberger/Staff

Linenberger had five first-place entires: religion, health and sports stories, sports feature story and sports column writing. His religion story focused on Tonganoxie United Methodist Church’s endeavor with Grounded Coffeehouse, while the health story was about COVID-19 testing demand skyrocketing at Downtown Drugstore. The sports story centered on Sam Kleidosty’s home run in the regional finals helping THS overtake Bishop Miege for a state berth. The sports column writing award was for Linenberger’s column about his trip to the Final Four, while his sports feature story was about the Chieftain Stars making history and winning a state trophy.

Linenberger’s second-place awards were for a youth story (Eagle Scout butterfly garden project at the library), another health story (LMH Health and OrthoKansas partnering to create more opportunities in the Tonganoxie school district) sports story (THS baseball’s state runner-up finish) and headline writing.

He also won third place for an education story about Pathways special education students making holiday crafts to fund a trip to Disney on Ice, as well as a photo gallery in the Best Online Photo Series/Gallery category. The photos were from Genesis Schools’ 25-year celebration.

The Mirror also won first place for best use of photos and second place for sports pages and best front page.

Linenberger said the awards were a testament to Tonganoxie.

“It’s a community victory,” he said. “It’s exciting to see judges from other states take notice of entries that are a reflection of Tonganoxie.

“I’m also thrilled to have connections with aspiring journalists and photographers in the community. Landon is a talented photographer. I can’t wait to see where his work takes him.”

The THS senior plans to attend Baker University in Baldwin City and majoring in multimedia after graduation.

The Mirror’s awards will be announced alongside other entrants during KPA’s Awards of Excellence banquet in June as part of the annual KPA Convention.

This year’s convention will be in Mulvane where sweepstakes winners will be announced.

The Mirror will try to win a second consecutive sweepstakes award. Last year, The Mirror won 34 awards on its way to a sweepstakes victory.

A member of The Mirror’s staff since 2001, Linenberger handles most news and sports stories, as well as photography and layout and design of the newspaper each week. Linenberger also utilizes contributed content from community members, including regular columns.