Strong showing for Kansas Press Association Awards
BY KIRBY ROSS
Phillips County Review
PHILLIPSBURG — The Phillips County Review has had a very good half-decade run, receiving a number of honors along the way, including from the Kansas Press Association, the Kansas Legislature, and the United State Senate.
Every year, the KPA receives thousands of competing journalism awards nominations from hundreds of Kansas newspapers, from which it selects first place, second place and third place winners in a variety of categories.
Because of the sheer numbers of journalists involved, the competition is extremely difficult to win.
Illustrating the nature of the competition, going up directly against around 180 newspapers in its circulation class in 2016, the KPA awarded the Phillips County Review top awards in just five categories. That year the Review took in four first place wins and one second place.
With the newspaper stepping up to meet the challenge, in 2017 it won three first places, five seconds, and one third--nine total awards.
In 2018, the recognition for the Review’s work really took off, with the newspaper gathering in six first place awards, seven second places, and eight thirds--21 total wins.
That year, the Review was in the running for the Kansas Press Association’s newspaper of the year “sweepstakes” award--the best of the best in its circulation class across the entire state of Kansas--but didn’t quite make it.
The following year the Review did make it. That rare honor among Kansas newspapers was awarded by the KPA to theReview after it won 10 firsts, five seconds, and three thirds in 2019.
That was eighteen total awards in 2019--fewer overall than the year before, but more first place wins which vaulted the publication into being recognized at the 2019 KPA Convention as best of the best among Kansas newspapers in its circulation class.
Fast forward to the present--last Thursday the Kansas Press Association released the list of winners for 2020. And theReview not only surpassed the number of awards it won in its championship season last year--the Reviewactually eclipsed last year’s wins by a large margin.
Taking in a major haul of 15 first place Kansas Press Association wins, 10 second places, and six thirds, it is not known whether these 31 total awards will garner the Reviewrecognition as KPA’s newspaper of the year in its circulation class for the second year in a row, but we’ll be finding out in coming weeks. Stay tuned.
CATEGORIES THE REVIEW SWEPT
In the meantime, we’ll break down just how the Review ended up eclipsing 2019's championship year.
First we’ll take a look at where individual staff members of the Reviewdominated the field of hundreds of individual competitors.
With there being multiple categories in the competition, and just three winners in each of those categories, Phillips County Review employees managed total sweeps or near total sweeps in five of those categories.
Best Feature Package Sweep: First Place - Kirby Ross Second Place - Kirby RossThird Place - Kirby Ross
Review Editor Kirby Ross took first place, second place, and third place in the KPA’s Feature Package category.
In this one, judging is based on quality of writing, quality of photographs, quality of the use of the photographs, and the quality of the layout of the photos and the story itself.
The three stories Ross swept the category with were epic in length and structure, containing around 35,000 words in all, as well as dozens of images. For point of comparison, a middle school-size novel might run around 40,000 words.
The three stories Ross swept all three places with were his four-part “The Great Kirwin Fire” series; the two-part “The Day the Railroad Came to Kirwin” series; and the one-part “Frontier Kirwin: Wild West Buffalo Hunting Outpost” story.
All were published in conjunction with the sesquicentennial celebration of Phillips County’s oldest town last fall.
Best Sports Photography Sweep: First Place - Jacque Bretton Second Place - Jacque Bretton Third Place - Jacque Bretton
Judging in this category is based on action, newsworthiness and quality.
Anybody who has ever been to a sporting event anywhere in Kansas--football, basketball, volleyball, track, etc., etc., generally will see at least a couple of photographers working the sidelines at the edge of the action.
Now contemplate all of those sports, and contemplate that the Review, in competing in a Sports Photography category, is directly going up against 8-man, 1A, 2A, and 3A sports photographers in every nook and cranny of the state.
There are literally over a thousand photographers taking sports pictures over the course of a school year.
Despite the large number of possible contenders vying for just one first place, one second place, and one third place sports photo prize, the Review’s Jacque Bretton swept this category. She won every sports photography award there was to win in theReview’s circulation class.
Jacque’s first place win was captioned “Celebration” and depicted the joy on the Phillipsburg High School girls volleyball teams’ faces as they held their sub-state championship trophy up high.
Jacque’s second place win for sports photography was of a steer wrestler in action at Kansas’ Biggest Rodeo last August, and was entitled “Man versus Beast.”
And completing her total sweep of the category was Bretton’s third place award for a photo captioned “Champion Backfield” which was of Phillipsburg High School fullback Tanner Ragsdale taking a hand-off from quarterback Trey Sides during the 3A High School State Championship football game in November 2018 (the qualifying timeframe for the KPA judging was from 11/1/18 thru 10/31/19.
Best General News Photography: First Place - Kirby Ross Second Place - Kirby Ross
This award focuses on hard news photography for events planned ahead of time, such as court hearings, news conferences and city council meetings. Judging is based on timeliness, impact and technical quality.
Kirby Ross didn’t take first, second and third in this highly-competitive category, but he did take first and second.
Ross’ first place winner was captioned “Closing Its Doors” and depicted a poignant scene of a large sign in a Phillipsburg parking lot along U.S. 36 stating “SHOPKO HOMETOWN CLOSING.” And in the distant background of the photo was the store itself in the near-empty parking lot.
Ross also took second place in general news photography with a picture he took of State Senator Elaine Bowers at a Phillipsburg Town Hall meeting speaking to local constituents Marion and Joyce Tien of Prairie View.
Best Local Business Story: First Place - Kirby Ross Second Place - Kirby Ross
Ross also took first and second place in this category. His “Australians, Canadians Invest in Phillipsburg Cannabis Processing” won the award for first, while his “Local SHOPKO Closing” story took second.
Judging for these awards is based on writing style, community importance, originality and enterprise.
Best Entertainment Ad Near Sweep
Second Place - Cheri Parks
Third Place - Cheri Parks
Judging for this one is for best single ad for restaurant, theater production, bowling alley, golf course, movie theater or other entertainment industry advertiser.
Competing against hundreds of talented graphic artist ad builders across the state of Kansas, the Review’sCheri Parks took second place and third place in this category.
In this near sweep, an ad she built entitled “Free Movie” for the Phillips County Christian Foundation and Phillipsburg’s Majestic Theater took second, while her “A Life in the Wild” ad for the Hansen Museum in Logan took third.
COLLECTIVE FIRST PLACE WINS
The Phillips County Review has expressed pride in all its wins whether they be first, second, or third place. However there are five first place wins of which we are particularly proud since they are awarded not to specific individuals, but to the newspaper as a whole as the result of a collective team effort.
•Best Front Pages First Place -- Judging for this award is based on layout and design, use of photos and graphics, headlines, local coverage and reader appeal.
•Design and Layout Excellence First Place -- Judging is based on layout and design of each page of the entire newspaper, use of white space, font selections and use of photos and graphics.
•Best Editorial Pages First Place -- Judging is based on content, leadership, community interest, impact and layout and design.
•Best Sports Pages First Place -- Judging for the sports pages is based on layout, use of photos and graphics, and variety of articles.
•Overall News and Writing Excellence First Place -- Judging is based an overall evaluation of the newspaper’s news and writing ability. Consideration is given to writing styles, originality, headlines, and general interest.
INDIVIDUAL WINS
•First Place
Best Feature Writing -- Kirby Ross
“Sen. Carl Hatch: Phillips County’s Native Son”
Judging in this category is based on writing style, originality and interest.
•First Place
Best Investigative Reporting -- Kirby Ross
“Australians, Canadians Invest in Phillipsburg Cannabis Processing”
A local news story which dropped like a bombshell among Phillips County readers in which KPA judging was based on writing style, community importance of the writing, enterprise and thoroughness of reporting. This same story also took top business reporting honors.
•First Place
Best Sports Feature Story -- Kirby Ross
“Frontier Kirwin: Wild West Buffalo Hunting Outpost”
Judging in the sports feature story category is based on general interest, writing style and originality.
•First Place
Best Headline Writing -- Kirby Ross
‘Little Great Lakes Looking...Great’
‘Whoa...Area Lakes are Really, Really Full’
‘Dying Little Girls’ Heroic Race to Save Her Sisters and Brother’
Judging for this one is based on originality and effectiveness of headlines, appropriateness for story subject and layout of headlines.
•First Place
Best Environmental Story -- Kirby Ross
“Whoa...Area Lakes are Really, Really Full”
Judging is based on quality of writing, with extra consideration given to entries showing a strong ability to explain complicated environmental issues.
•First Place
Best Spot News Photograph -- Jodie Derr
Oversize load illegally driving through Phillipsburg business district.
Judging based on timeliness, impact and technical quality.
•Second Place
Best Story Series -- Kirby Ross
“The Day the Railroad Came to Kirwin”
10,000 words in two parts
Judging based on writing style, reader interest, enterprise and thoroughness of reporting.
•Second Place
Best Feature Photo -- Jacque Bretton
“Fair Time in Phillips County”
Judging is based on timeliness, impact and technical quality.
•Second Place
Best Photo Illustration -- Kirby Ross
“Slow Death....”
Judging is based on originality, creativity, artistic quality and subject matter. A photo illustration is defined as a preconceived photograph used as a graphic to accompany a story.
•Second Place
Best Classified Display Ad -- Cheri Parks
“Prairie Land Electric”
•Second Place
Best Political Ad -- Kirby Ross
“Your Voice, Your Vote”
•Third Place
Best Editorial Writing -- Kirby Ross
“Oversize Load Series”
Judging is based on local impact, reasoning, writing excellence and leadership shown.
•Third Place
Best Government and Political Reporting -- Kirby Ross
“Sen. Carl Hatch: Phillips County’s Native Son”
Judging is based on local impact, writing style, originality and enterprise.
•Third Place
Best Story/Picture Combination -- Kirby Ross
“Kirwin’s Early Businessmen and their Magnificent Buildings”
Winning entries in this category consist of stories which would not otherwise be told adequately without the combination of text and visual elements.
— Republished with permission