{"id":4917,"date":"2025-09-14T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T07:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T12:00:03","slug":"the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Independent wins 28 journalism awards in annual Missouri Press contest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"614\" src=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Hawley-Kunce-ham-breakfast-20240815-1024x614.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, left, and his Democratic challenger, Lucas Kunce, faceoff on Aug. 15, 2024, at the Governor&#8217;s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. The photo was awarded second place for &#8220;best news photograph&#8221; by the Missouri Press Association (Rudi Keller\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n<p><span>The Missouri Independent\u2019s staff won 28 awards Saturday \u2014 including 10 first place honors \u2014 in the annual Missouri Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The awards were handed out at the association\u2019s annual convention, which this year was held in Wildwood.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Independent swept the \u201cinvestigative reporting\u201d category, with first place going to Allison Kite for her coverage of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/12\/05\/kansas-city-mayor-accused-of-skirting-city-gift-ban-by-using-nonprofit-to-pay-for-travel\/\"><span>Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas\u2019 use of a nonprofit<\/span><\/a><span> to pay for Chiefs tickets, hotel stays, flights and dinners. Among the revelations in Kite\u2019s reporting, which was b<\/span><span>ased on public records and documents provided by a whistleblower, was that one of the mayor\u2019s trips to the Super Bowl was bankrolled by a politically-connected trade group.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Second place went to Clara Bates for her months-long investigation into<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/12\/15\/a-st-louis-cop-sent-a-black-man-to-prison-but-the-jury-never-heard-about-the-officers-past\/\"><span> the conviction of Kurtis Watkins<\/span><\/a><span>. Bates revealed that the officer whose testimony led to Watkins\u2019 25 year sentence had a history of racist social media posts and a mistaken identification of another Black man that led to his death in custody \u2014 facts that were not provided to Watkins\u2019 attorneys.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Third place went to Annelise Hanshaw for a series of stories documenting Republican efforts in Missouri to outlaw gender-affirming care in the state. Among the revelations in her reporting were records showing the attorney general was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/05\/24\/therapists-social-workers-face-scrutiny-in-missouri-ag-investigation-of-transgender-care\/\"><span>targeting therapists and social workers<\/span><\/a><span> across the state who work with transgender minors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bates and Hanshaw shared first place for \u201cbest multimedia reporting\u201d for a video accompanying the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/12\/15\/a-st-louis-cop-sent-a-black-man-to-prison-but-the-jury-never-heard-about-the-officers-past\/\"><span>Kurtis Watkins reporting<\/span><\/a><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rebecca Rivas\u2019 reporting on a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/07\/26\/missouri-cannabis-leader-accused-of-using-predatory-contracts-to-win-social-equity-licenses\/\"><span>Missouri cannabis leader facing accusations of using \u201cpredatory\u201d contacts<\/span><\/a><span> to win microbusiness licenses won first place for \u201cbest business story.\u201d That story also won first place for \u201cbest news story.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rudi Keller placed second in the \u201cbest business story\u201d category for his coverage of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/06\/13\/billions-at-stake-as-national-battle-over-drug-pricing-plays-out-in-missouri\/\"><span>the battle over pharmacy legislation<\/span><\/a><span> pitting some of the biggest players in health care against each other. Anna Spoerre and Bates took third place for their story on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/07\/05\/missouri-child-care-subsidy-providers-day-care-children\/\"><span>Missouri day care centers being forced to close<\/span><\/a><span> as state subsidy payments remain backlogged due to glitches in a new system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Keller won first place for \u201cbreaking news\u201d with his story about <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/01\/25\/missouri-senate-gop-warfare-escalates-with-suggestion-of-expelling-freedom-caucus-leader\/\"><span>escalating GOP warfare in the Senate <\/span><\/a><span>leading to the suggested expulsion of a Republican member. Spoerre won third place in the breaking news category for her story on voters approving a constitutional amendment <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/11\/05\/missouri-voters-overturn-states-near-total-abortion-ban\/\"><span>overturning Missouri\u2019s abortion ban<\/span><\/a><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For \u201cbest election story,\u201d Keller took home first place and second place for stories on the campaign for U.S. Senate and Missouri governor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Spoerre won first place for \u201cbest story about religion\u201d for her coverage of the tactics of anti-abortion activists seeking to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/05\/02\/missouri-abortion-amendment-march-life\/\"><span>block Missouri\u2019s abortion-rights amendment<\/span><\/a><span>. Hanshaw won second place in the religion category for stories on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/11\/18\/judge-weighs-whether-missouri-based-kanakuk-defrauded-abuse-survivors-family\/\"><span>alleged abuse at Kanakuk Ministries<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hanshaw also won first place for \u201cbest story about education\u201d for her reporting on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2024\/09\/04\/missouri-schools-lack-public-enforcement-policies-for-transgender-athlete-restrictions\/\"><span>lack of public enforcement policies<\/span><\/a><span> for Missouri\u2019s transgender athlete ban.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/author\/bridgettedunlap\/\"><span>Bridgette Dunlap<\/span><\/a><span> won second place for \u201cbest columnist.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Independent also took home awards for \u201cbest feature story,\u201d \u201cbest news or feature series,\u201d \u201cbest news photograph,\u201d \u201cbest story about rural or agriculture life,\u201d \u201cbest story about history,\u201d \u201cbest story about the outdoors\u2019 and \u201cbest reporting using the Sunshine Law.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, left, and his Democratic challenger, Lucas Kunce, faceoff on Aug. 15, 2024, at the Governor&#8217;s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. The photo was awarded second place for &#8220;best news photograph&#8221; by the Missouri Press Association (Rudi Keller\/Missouri Independent). The Missouri Independent\u2019s staff won 28 awards Saturday&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Independent wins 28 journalism awards in annual Missouri Press contest - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Independent wins 28 journalism awards in annual Missouri Press contest - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, left, and his Democratic challenger, Lucas Kunce, faceoff on Aug. 15, 2024, at the Governor&#8217;s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. The photo was awarded second place for &#8220;best news photograph&#8221; by the Missouri Press Association (Rudi Keller\/Missouri Independent). The Missouri Independent\u2019s staff won 28 awards Saturday...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-14T12:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Hawley-Kunce-ham-breakfast-20240815-1024x614.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Hildebrand\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad Hildebrand\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brad Hildebrand\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/86ac6e2a917ca881b22f6d55d1b955f0\"},\"headline\":\"The Independent wins 28 journalism awards in annual Missouri Press contest\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-14T12:00:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":586,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hawley-Kunce-ham-breakfast-20240815-1024x614-hs4EdF.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/\",\"name\":\"The Independent wins 28 journalism awards in annual Missouri Press contest - 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Josh Hawley, left, and his Democratic challenger, Lucas Kunce, faceoff on Aug. 15, 2024, at the Governor&#8217;s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. The photo was awarded second place for &#8220;best news photograph&#8221; by the Missouri Press Association (Rudi Keller\/Missouri Independent). The Missouri Independent\u2019s staff won 28 awards Saturday...","og_url":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/","og_site_name":"WestplexNews.com","article_published_time":"2025-09-14T12:00:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Hawley-Kunce-ham-breakfast-20240815-1024x614.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Brad Hildebrand","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brad Hildebrand","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Brad Hildebrand","@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/86ac6e2a917ca881b22f6d55d1b955f0"},"headline":"The Independent wins 28 journalism awards in annual Missouri Press contest","datePublished":"2025-09-14T12:00:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/"},"wordCount":586,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hawley-Kunce-ham-breakfast-20240815-1024x614-hs4EdF.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/","url":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/14\/the-independent-wins-28-journalism-awards-in-annual-missouri-press-contest-2\/","name":"The Independent wins 28 journalism awards in annual Missouri Press contest - 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