Eagle journalists win 8 first-place awards in Kansas Press Association competition

Staff members of The Wichita Eagle won eight first-place awards in the annual Kansas Press Association Awards, which were awarded Saturday at a luncheon in Topeka.

The winners were:

▪ Bob Lutz, sports column writing, telling how Jeff Sims overcame mistakes and bad luck to coach the national champion Garden City Community College football team.

▪ Richard Crowson, editorial cartoons, including for one where three schoolchildren walking down a street poke wry fun at how legislators fund only those things they care about – schools not being one of them.

▪ Jaime Green and Travis Heying, for the best news video, showing from multiple angles how the B-29 bomber “Doc” took to the air again.

▪ Travis Heying, best feature video, showing how shooting victim Julie Dombo and her husband orchestrated her recovery.

▪ Roy Wenzl in the religion category, for telling how Muslim Wichitans have been both abused and helped by fellow Wichitans.

▪ Roy Wenzl and Bo Rader, best story and picture combination, telling how Tracey and Lolita Repp endure Tracey’s devastating illness.

▪ Gabriella Dunn in the health category, describing how the heroin epidemic has moved into towns and suburbs.

▪ Phillip Brownlee in editorial writing, for several pieces, including one showing how delays by the state of Kansas in reporting Medicaid applications might endanger the lives of vulnerable Kansans.

Eagle staff members also won four second-place and nine third-place awards.

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Eagle journalists win 8 first-place awards in Kansas Press Association competition."