For third year in a row, Marion County Record has been named best in the state for overall news and writing.
Competing against other midsize weeklies and dailies in a contest judged by out-of-state journalists, the Record also won first place for best editorial pages.
It was the second year in a row for the Record to win that honor. Editor and publisher Eric Meyer also won first place for editorial writing in the Kansas Press Association contest, results of which were made available Monday.
Office manager Cheri Bentz won first place for her combination of story and photos about Tampa, Kansas, residents enjoying a free trip to Tampa, Florida.
The Record also won, for the second year in a row, first place for a professional services advertisement for Great Plains Federal Credit Union and, also for the second year in a row, first place for a furniture ad for AhhsSpas.
Other first-place awards were for a political ad opposed to Marion’s Charter Ordinance 22 and for a community event ad for Chingawassa Days.
All ads were sold by sales manager Debra Steele and designed by Meyer.
In the same photo-story category in which she won first place, Bentz shared a second place award with reporter Phyllis Zorn for their coverage of a tornado April 29 north of Tampa.
The Record also won second place for overall design and layout excellence and captured both second and third statewide for investigative reporting — second for Zorn’s coverage of plea-bargaining and third for her and Meyer’s coverage of a dispute between county hospitals and the county ambulance service.
Meyer also received second place in government and political coverage for his analysis of write-in votes.
An automotive ad for Great Plains Federal, an entertainment ad for Florence Harvey House, and an agricultural ad for Animal Health Center also won second-place awards.
Meyer and Zorn won third place their coverage of an ATV fatality, another fatal accident, and the toll they took on emergency workers.
Newcomer Deb Gruver scored third-place awards for both youth and senior citizen stories about a flag football league and about the grand marshal of Florence’s Labor Day parade.
Also new to the staff and also winning a third-place award was Nicholas Kimball for his environmental portrait of deer on the lawn of Marion City Library.
The Record also won third for its front page, for an automotive ad for Hillsboro Ford, for a health care ad for Marion County Health Department, and for most adaptable promotion for the Shop and Dine feature of Explore sections.