We got the news Monday that we had won 17 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence for 2013, including eight first-place, eight second-place, and one third-place.

When we had so many changes in the newsroom last summer, it didn’t take long for the new reporters to start producing award-winning work. Olivia Haselwood was in her second week at the paper when she took a photo looking out the cabin of a combine during wheat harvest, which won first place in the news photo category. Not to be outdone, Oliver Good took first place in the feature photo category for his photo looking out of the courthouse clock tower while it was being repaired.

When torrential rains flooded streets on a Tuesday in July, it took a team effort to chronicle all that was happening, and that team effort turned into the first-place award for story and picture combination. The award we’re most honored to receive is first place in news and writing excellence — it’s the broadest category, and the one that looks at the newspaper as a whole.

We’re happy to have the recognition of our journalism peers, but awards aren’t why we produce the newspaper. We put in hours that can be long and unusual to produce a quality newspaper for you, our readers, friends, and neighbors. When we hear from you that something in the newspaper brought an issue to your attention that you didn’t know about and that information helped you, that’s sweeter than any award.