Reflector-Chronicle staff earns six awards, two first place awards

Abilene Reflector-Chronicle staff earned six awards in the annual Kansas Press Association Award of Excellence competition.

Reporter Gail Parsons earned first-place awards in the youth story category for a feature titled “Herington child with mosaicism lives life to the fullest,” and Best Environmental Story for coverage of the lesser prairie chicken classification of threatened in Kansas.

She also took second place in the health story category for “Technology helps blind people gain independence.”

Reporting on the sudden closure of the Herington Hospital, Editor Ed Boice earned second place in investigative reporting for a piece headlined “Herington Hospital employees administration ‘failed us,’ Emprise Bank denies having medical records.”

A group effort with continuing coverage of the hospital’s debacle earned a second-place award for a series of articles for Boice, former Reflector-Chronicle reporter Ashley McKenny, and Parsons.

The ARC also brought home the third-place award in series writing for Parsons’ eight-part series covering Dickinson County’s Drug Court program.

The ARC competed in division five, which covers publications with a circulation between 2,201 and 3,500. Boice said he is proud of the work his team at the Reflector-Chronicle consistently turns out and pleased that KPA recognizes the quality reporting through the annual competition.

“Gail did amazing work last year and deserves every award given to her, especially those two first places,” he said. “Ashley McKenny also was a great asset to us when she was here, shown by her contributions in the Herington Hospital coverage. I am proud of how our team continues to produce quality reporting despite the turnover our staff has seen over the past few years. Without these writers and the Reflector-Chronicle in general, none of the depth behind these stories would have made it out to the public.”