Reporters from the collaborative Kansas News Service received a total of eight awards, including four first-place honors, in the 2022 Kansas Press Association contest.
This is the first year the Kansas News Service entered the Awards of Excellence contest, and the collaborative competed against the largest-circulation newspapers in the state.
Western Kansas correspondent David Condos (High Plains Public Radio) received three first place awards:
- Best Agricultural Story, for Federal Payments To Black Kansas Farmers Come Too Late For Generations Hurt By Discrimination.
- Best Environmental Story, for Western Kansas Farmers Begin To See Better Profits With Less Irrigation
- Best Environmental Portrait, for Kansas ranchers face a long road to recovery after devastating wildfires.
Condos was also recognized in the following categories:
Second place, Best Series, for his two-part report on meatpacking plants in Kansas:
- Third place, Best Government/Political Story: Even in the most Hispanic cities in Kansas, getting elected as a Latina is an uphill battle.
Senior Political correspondent Jim McLean was recognized with first place in the Best Government/News Story category, for Right-Wing Extremism Has Been Taking Root In Rural Kansas For Decades
Politics and Government reporter Abigail Censky received second place in the Best News Story category for Women across the Midwest and South are coming to Kansas for abortions. That could end next year.
Health reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen was recognized with third place in the Best Series category for her four-part “Bills of Health” series on hospital prices in Kansas:
- Part One: Kansas Knows What Hospitals Get Paid, But Says It Can't Tell A Group That Compares Prices Nationally.
- Part Two: While Kansas Keeps Hospital Data Under Lock And Key, Colorado Helps Employers Dig Into Cost Of Care.
- Part Three: Here Are Some Of The Kansas Hospitals Flouting A Federal Rule To Publish Their Prices.
- Part Four: 'Never Pay The First Bill' And Other Advice To Battle A Suspiciously High Hospital Bill.
Awards were provided for work produced between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2021.
Awardees will be recognized at the KPA convention June 9-10 in Newton.
About the Kansas News Service
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of public media newsrooms delivering critical reporting of sound and substance. The nonprofit service is directed by KCUR 89.3 in Kansas City in partnership with KMUW (Wichita), Kansas Public Radio (KANU, Lawrence) and High Plains Public Radio (KANZ, Garden City). It is made possible with support from the Kansas Health Foundation, United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, Sunflower Foundation, REACH Healthcare Foundation and the Health Forward Foundation. Additional support comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Learn more at ksnewsservice.org.
