Kansas (population 2.8 million) led all states with 11 award recipients. California (population 37.7 million) students won 10 awards, while Texas (25.7 million) and Indiana (6.5 million) each had eight award winners. California and Indiana, with three first-place winners, were the only other states with more than one winner.

Here are the Kansas winners (first-place winners will be honored Sept. 22 at the 2012 NFPW conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.):

First Place

• Maria Davison, Shawnee Mission NW, Editorial, “How to Keep Students in School”; adviser Susan Massy.
• Chris Heady, Shawnee Mission East, Sports Story, “Finding Inner Strength”; adviser C. Dow Tate.
• Emily Brown, Blue Valley HS, Columns, “A forever friendship; Goodbye, OCD; and Grading the Grand Old Party”; adviser Jill Chittum
• Brandon Smith, Pittsburg HS, Feature Photo, “Seniors react to the intensity on the court during last week’s victory over undefeated Fort Scott during Pink Out Night”; adviser Emily Smith.
• Nate Compton, Shawnee Mission NW, Sports Photo, “The ball is stolen from sophomore Jake Horner by a Bishop Miege player”; adviser Susan Massy.
• Nathan Walker, Shawnee Mission East, Video Sports Story, “Harbie Practice Squad: Swimming”; adviser C. Dow Tate.
• Lauren Minnick, Shawnee Mission NW, Yearbook, “X Marks the Walk”; adviser Susan Massy.

Second Place

• Duncan MacLachlan, Shawnee Mission East, Video News Story, “Occupy KC”; adviser C. Dow Tate.
• Jack Howland, Shawnee Mission East, News Story, “They Call it Molly”; adviser C. Dow Tate.

Third Place

• Roslyn Lucas, Paola HS, Graphics, “Under the Exterior”; adviser BriAnne Chayer.

Honorable Mention

• Chloe Stradinger, Shawnee Mission East, Single-page Layout, “Now We’re Cooking”; adviser C. Dow Tate.

Here are the winners and others who merited recognition from the judge:

News Publication Design

1st: Mary McDermott, Maize, “21st Century Art”
2nd: Matthew Honas, Maize
3rd: Linley Sanders, BVNW

Yearbook Design

1st: Mackenzie Lujin and Emma Bjornson, BV West, “Yearbook Spread” page 1 and page 2

Infographic

1st: Megan Murphy, BVNW, “Class of 2012 by the Numbers”

Here are the winners and other entries noted by the judge, along with links to their stories:

Feature Story

1^st: Julia Poe, Shawnee Mission East, “The Icing on the Cake”
2^nd: Dagny Castelli, Maize, “Lives Touched by the Military”
3^rd: Danny Rosenberg, Blue Valley North, “A family on the spectrum”

Sports

1^st: Meredith Johnson, Blue Valley Northwest, “Crosse-ing into college”

Opinion

1^st: Linley Sanders, Blue Valley Northwest, “A demand for District transparency”
2^nd: Logan Rink, Pittsburg, “It could have been you: Zimmerman murder trial gets under way, spurs public debate”
3^rd tie: Will Webber, Shawnee Mission East, “Bonding Through a Beat”
3rd tie: Lauren Pino, Blue Valley West, “No-Nonsense?: Annual Dodgeball Tournament Canceled”

News

1^st: Evan Nichols, Shawnee Mission East, “Shedding Light on Alcohol Awareness,” Page 1 and Page 2

Yearbook Copy

1^st: Kelcie Matousek, Holton, “Freshman drivers learn lessons the hard way”

Here are the list of entries the judge from Texas deemed worthy of special recognition:

Sports Photo
1st: Jacob Wilson, Shawnee Mission North
2nd: Jessica Curlee, Pittsburg
3rd: Marisa Walton, Shawnee Mission East

Student Life Photo
1st: Jake Crandall, Shawnee Mission East
2nd: Kayla Heenan, Blue Valley Northwest
3rd: Kelcie Matousek, Holton

Portrait
1st: Jordan Reinhardt, Blue Valley Northwest
2nd: Jess Hendin & Kanika Kshirsagar, Blue Valley West

Photo Illustration
1st: Brittany Neigenfind, Maize

Academics
1st: Brandon Smith, Pittsburg

Chase County and Canton-Galva each earned 63 points overall to tie for the Class 2A sweepstakes.

Other winners included:

• Class 1A: St. Francis Community School
• Class 2A: Chase County  and Canton-Galva
• Class 3A: Humboldt
• Class 4A: Bonner Springs
• Class 5A: Blue Valley
• Class 6A: Shawnee Mission East

Students competed in 20 categories (11 carry-in contests involving graphic design, photography and videos, and nine on-site writing and editing categories). Sixty-one judges sifted through 1,387 entries and awarded first, second and third places, as well as three honorable mentions in Classes 1A/2A, 3A/4A and 5A/6A. Classes are separated only as a means of determining sweepstakes winners in each class, but not individual winners.

Points were awarded for first place (5), second place (4), third place (3) and three honorable mentions (1) per contest in every class.

Here’s a full list of individuals winners by class:

• Class 1A/2A contests
• Class 3A/4A contests
• Class 5A/6A contests

Here are the final counts by class and by school.

Class 1A: St. Francis, 31, Western Plains 10, Central Plains 7, Burrton 5, Satanta 2.

Class 2A: Canton-Galva 63, Chase County 63, Sterling 22, Yates Center 16, Hill City 12, Skyline 12, Troy 11, Ellsworth 9, Doniphan West 9, Kiowa County 8, Ellinwood 5, Onaga 5, Republic County 4, Wabaunsee 3, Burlingame 2, Ell-Saline 1.

Class 3A: Humboldt 37, Phillipsburg 20, Russell 19, Caney Valley 12, Silver Lake 10, Norton 6, Osage City 5, Neodesha 5, Southwestern Heights 3, Minneapolis 3, Nemaha Valley 2, The Independent School 2, Beloit 1, Burlington 1, Southeast of Saline 1.

Class 4A: Bonner Springs 43, Chanute 22, Chapman 13, DeSoto 13, Hiawatha 13, Jefferson West 10, Pittsburg 9, Holton 8, McPherson 7, Smoky Valley 7, Louisburg 5, Paola 5, Pratt 4, Augusta 4, Buhler 3, Ottawa 2, Piper 2, Girard 1, Baldwin 1, Rose Hill 1.

Class 5A: Blue Valley 36, Mill Valley 32, Salina Central 23, Andover Central 17, Bishop Carroll 14, Andover 12, Hays 7, Blue Valley Southwest 6, Kapaun Mt. Carmel 3, Newton 1, Salina South 1, Topeka West 1.

Class 6A: Shawnee Mission East 27, Shawnee Mission Northwest 20, Blue Valley West 14, Blue Valley Northwest 14, Shawnee Mission North 12, Wichita East 11, Maize 5, Wichita Southeast 5, Olathe South 5, Derby 4, Lawrence 4, Wichita Northwest 4, Lawrence Free State 4, Kansas City Washington 4, Shawnee Mission South 4, Haysville Campus 3, Blue Valley North 3, Topeka 1, Olathe North 1, Shawnee Mission West 1, Manhattan 1.

• Area 1: Kathy Habiger, Mill Valley HS
• Area 2: Erica Rickard, Newton HS
• Area 3: Jessica Bowman, Canton-Galva HS
• Area 4: Jane Wagner, Russell HS
• Area 5: Beau Harkness, Garden City HS
• At-Large: Brendan Praeger, Wabaunsee HS

The following members will remain on the Board through May 2013:

• Area 1: Amy Morgan, Shawnee Mission West HS
• Area 2: Sharon Martin, Wichita East HS
• Area 3: Dawnae Bunch, Ellsworth HS
• Area 4: Vicki Lynn Constable, Phillipsburg HS
• Area 5: Judy Hampel, Skyline HS (will occupy seat being vacated by Jennifer Hanson, Satanta HS)

The current Board will have its final meeting of the year on Friday, May 4, at 7 p.m. at Stauffer Flint Hall on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence. Dinner will begin at 6 p.m.

Here is the Board’s meeting schedule for the 2012-2013 academic year:

• Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, 9 a.m., 103 Kedzie Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan
• Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012, 9 a.m., Elliott School of Communications, Wichita State University
• Saturday, May 3, 2013, 7 p.m., Stauffer Flint Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence

The list is led by Chapman (Class 4A), Mill Valley (Class 5A) and Shawnee Mission East (Class 6A), which each won two All-Kansas plaques. Chapman and adviser Matt Weller will collect plaques for their video program and for their newspaper, Mill Valley and adviser Kathy Habiger earned plaques for their newspaper and their website, while SM East and adviser C. Dow Tate will be honored for East’s newspaper and website.

Plaques will be awarded at the State Contest opening ceremonies, Saturday, May 5, at the Kansas Union. (Plaques for the 19 All-Kansas yearbooks will be awarded at the same time.)

In all, 47 schools submitted their news publications for critique, and 22 earned All-Kansas; 17 schools submitted their websites, while two earned All-Kansas ratings; and three schools submitted video news entries, and one school earned All-Kansas.

Here’s a list of the 2012 All-Kansas winners for the spring semester:

Video News Program

• “Chapman High News,” Chapman, Matt Weller, adviser

News Websites

Class 5A

• JagWire News Online, Mill Valley, Kathy Habiger, adviser

Class 6A

• Harbinger Online, Shawnee Mission East, C. Dow Tate, adviser

News Publications

Class 1A

• Cat Tracks, Western Plains, Todd Vogts, adviser

Class 2A

• Eagle Insider, Canton-Galva, Jessica Bowman, adviser

Class 3A

• The Panther Pause, Phillipsburg, Vicki Constable, adviser
• Cub Tracks, Humboldt, Kim Isbell, adviser

Class 4A

• Pow Wow, Bonner Springs, Jill Holder, adviser
• The Dickinsonian, Chapman, Matt Weller, adviser
• The Reporter, Paola, BriAnne Chayer, adviser
• The Comet, Chanute, Dustin Fox, adviser

Class 5A

• The Flyer, Bishop Carroll, Kollen Long, adviser
• The Southwest Frontier, Blue Valley Southwest, Heather Lawrenz, adviser
• The Tiger Print, Blue Valley, Jill Chittum, adviser
• The Candidate, Goddard Eisenhower, Matt Deabler, adviser
• JagWire, Mill Valley, Kathy Habiger, adviser
• Paladin, Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic, Ashley Perkins, adviser

Class 6A

• The Express, Blue Valley Northwest, Jim McCrossen, adviser
• Spotlight, Blue Valley West, Debbie Glenn, adviser
• The Budget, Lawrence, Barbara Tholen, adviser
• Northwest Passage, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Susan Massy, adviser
• The World, Topeka, Barbara Padget, adviser
• Play, Maize, Dan Loving, adviser
• The Stampede, Wichita Southeast, Susan Gray, adviser
• The Harbinger, Shawnee Mission East, C. Dow Tate, adviser

Stout, who will be honored at the annual KSPA State Contest brunch on May 5, will receive up to $500 to cover tuition for continuing journalism education, a plaque and a free 2012-2013 KSPA membership. Stout was nominated by her high school adviser, Jill Holder from Bonner Springs.

Here’s what one judge wrote about Stout: “In her three years as an adviser, Brandi has done a great job to revitalize the yearbook and to train her  students to the point that they are competitive and confident. The editor’s comment about Brandi speaks volumes: ‘The main thing Mrs. Stout teaches is that she has faith in her students even when they don’t have faith in themselves.’”

Another judge noted that Stout “works at a low-income school (and) has re-energized the journalism program. Recent research shows that journalism programs are least likely to exist in schools that have large proportions of disadvantaged students, which is measured by how many students in a school qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This relates to the type of funding for curricular and extra-curricular programs, like journalism, that a school has at its disposal. In Brandi’s school, 78 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.”

All judges had praise for all three nominees: Stout, Todd Vogts of Western Plains High School and BriAnne Chayer of Paola High School.

“In two years in a school with a total enrollment of 48, Todd has created an entire program and his students placed first in KSPA state contest. Quite an achievement in a short time. In addition he teaches his students about their First Amendment rights and empowers them to practice those rights.”

“Most impressive in BriAnne’s recommendation packet were the endorsements she received from her superintendent as well as a former fellow reporter. While both letters presented detailed, appropriate information, it was the student letter that (was most impressive.) The student credited BriAnne with the change in the journalism program and continued ‘she offers a safe haven for students to learn and grow as students, leaders, and journalists.’”

“Looking over all these nominations, I came to believe that student journalism in Kansas is in good hands of excellent advisers,” one judge wrote.

Michelle Wilmes of Ottawa won the inaugural Sunflower Award in 2011.

State ID numbers are listed below.  If you see any mistakes such as misspellings, incorrect contest assignment, duplicate ID numbers, or anything else, please let Amanda know as soon as possible.  You may contact her at staff@kspaonline.org.

1A State Qualifiers

2A State Qualifiers

3A State Qualifiers

4A State Qualifiers

5A State Qualifiers

6A State Qualifiers