The Lawrence Times has earned a dozen awards from the Kansas Press Association, including four first-place wins and two awards for coverage of homelessness solutions.
The Times — a small, independent publication that launched five years ago — competes in Division VII of the KPA’s annual Awards of Excellence. It’s the largest circulation division in the state, and our work is judged alongside mostly much older legacy publications with larger staffs and significantly more resources.
Wulfe Wulfemeyer, reporter and news editor, and Nathan Kramer, student photojournalist, both earned first place in the New Journalist Award category. These two — often working together — consistently produce excellent work, and it’s no surprise that judges were unable to pick just one of them.
Cuyler Dunn and Maya Hodison earned first place in the Education Story category for their article “Families allege years of trauma in Lawrence special education.” The judge praised their sourcing and wrote that “Hearing first from a family with a special needs child struggling in the education system then from teachers then taking a larger look at the state of SPED educators in the state was the perfect way to frame this story.”
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The publication earned two awards in Solutions Journalism for articles that put a spotlight on progress that local people and organizations are making to help people experiencing homelessness.
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Wulfemeyer earned first place in the category for their article “For some housing professionals, fighting chronic homelessness must be trauma-informed.” The judge praised the “excellent coverage” of the topic, as well as the explanations of the challenges people face. Mackenzie Clark, reporter/founder, won third place in Solutions Journalism for her article, “Here’s a glimpse at Lawrence’s Pallet village by the numbers after one year open.”
Molly Adams, our former photo editor, won second place Photographer of the Year.
“Beautiful photos, moment-driven and an excellent representation of a community,” the judge wrote. “The photographer is great with light, composition and expression.”
Kramer won second place in the Best Environmental Portrait category for his photo of Dante Colombo, owner of John Brown Underground. “Framed by the glow of bar lights, the image captures a genuine pride in the smiling man talking about his business,” the judge wrote.
As a team, the Times won second place in Best Use of Social Media and Best Coverage of Diversity.
Kramer won third place in Best Online Photo Series/Gallery for his coverage of an open house and celebration at the Free State High School prairie.
The news team won third place in the Series category for our in-depth coverage of the sudden terminations and reinstatements of employees of Haskell Indian Nation University in February 2025.
“This series does a great job explaining the impact of the Haskell firings on faculty, staff, the community, and, most importantly, the students,” the judge wrote. “Your details … and conversations with those involved create an emotional response that humanizes the phrase ‘federal budget cuts.’”
The news team also won third place in Headline Writing for these gems: “Lawrence Humane Pet of the Week: Flycatcher is a true Renaissance dog who lives up to his name”; “Downtown Lawrence’s latest attraction is a surfeit of skunks; Love Garden prints stinker stickers”; and “Rain gives way to rainbows at Lawrence PRIDE.”
The greatest honor for our news team is to serve our readers, though we deeply appreciate the recognition from our industry peers that tells us we’re doing great work that matters.
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This post is by the Lawrence Times news team.
If you have news tips, questions, comments, concerns, compliments or corrections for our team, please reach out and let us know what’s on your mind. Email us at [email protected] (don’t forget the KS!), or find more contact info and a quick contact form at LawrenceKSTimes.com/contact.
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