The Lawrence Times news team has been honored to receive numerous recognitions from professional journalism associations and universities’ journalism schools.
The Times, founded in February 2021, started publishing in March 2021. Despite our publication’s relative youth compared to peers, these awards have helped to cement that the work we do is not only important to our community but also well respected in our field.
We sincerely appreciate our colleagues’ encouragement, and more than anything, the community support that allows us to keep doing this work.
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Summaries of awards we’ve earned

Lawrence Times wins Best Coverage of Diversity, Best Website and numerous other honors from Kansas Press Association
The Lawrence Times news team has been recognized with 17 awards in the Kansas Press Association’s 2023 Awards of Excellence, including three first-place awards judged alongside all contest divisions.

Lawrence Times news team celebrates 3 prestigious awards and honors
The Lawrence Times news team on Thursday announced two prestigious new awards and an honorable mention recognizing the publication’s community journalism and investigative prowess.

Lawrence Times wins 4 Awards of Excellence from the Kansas Press Association
Our news team is thrilled to announce that after just our first year publishing, The Lawrence Times has been selected for four Awards of Excellence from the Kansas Press Association.
Award-winning work
The posts below are award-winning articles, projects, parts of series and/or contain award-winning photos or infographics.

Douglas County sheriff is ‘Giglio-impaired,’ district attorney’s office says
Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister is “Giglio-impaired” because he mishandled evidence, according to the district attorney’s office. The sheriff disputes the characterization.

Kids help rabbi press oil, make wicks for menorah candles at Lawrence library
Families gathered in the Lawrence Public Library auditorium Tuesday to hear Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel tell the story of Hanukkah, snack on latkes and applesauce, and help make olive oil and wicks to use in a menorah.

Lawrence high school Unity Step Team encourages individuality, self-confidence
One minute the practice gym echoes with jokes and laughter, and the next, it fills with rhythmic stomping and clapping. More than just an extracurricular activity, the Unity Step Team is cherished by its members.

Douglas County sheriff, district attorney in standoff over officer personnel files
Conflict has been worsening between the Douglas County sheriff and district attorney amid an ongoing dispute over what information the sheriff’s office must share with prosecutors regarding employee misconduct.

Native American students mourn after ancestral remains discovered in KU’s possession
Many Native American students, staff and faculty as well as their surrounding community were left in mourning after they learned that unidentified ancestors’ remains were discovered in KU’s museum collections.

City of Lawrence-run camp for people experiencing homelessness raises concerns for ‘family’ members who already live there
Jennifer Adams is anxious. She soon has to relocate the tent where she currently lives nestled near a shade tree. In the year and a half Adams has been homeless, the city has swept her camps six times, she said.

Legal scholar and KU professor hopes her students never lose the right to abortion that she had
If she hadn’t received an abortion at age 19, Sarah Deer said she would not have become the person she is today. She has reached great heights of success as a legal scholar, advocate and more.
News team awards
2023 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence:
• Best Coverage of Diversity, All Divisions
• Best Use of Social Media, All Divisions (Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Tiktok)
• Best Website, Division VII
Read more about these recognitions at this link.
2022 American Journalism Online Awards, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University:
• Best Non-Traditional News Organization
Read more about this recognition at this link.
Individual recognitions

• Molly Adams began her work as a professional photojournalist with The Lawrence Times in late May 2022. She was selected for third place in the Photographer of the Year category among all divisions in the Kansas Press Association’s 2023 Awards of Excellence.
See Adams’ work at this link.

• Tom Harper is a Lawrence townie, Realtor at Stephens Real Estate, and founder of Lawrence Modern, a group whose mission is to raise awareness of midcentury and modern architecture.
He was selected for third place in column writing in the Times’ division — publications with the largest circulations in the state — in the Kansas Press Association’s 2023 Awards of Excellence. Read Harper’s work at this link.

• Conner Mitchell, reporter, in 2022 earned two recognitions for his 2021 series, “Who Killed Nick Rice?”, including the Burton W. Marvin Kansas News Enterprise Award, named for the former dean of KU’s William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications, and an honorable mention from the American Journalism Online Awards from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University in its category of “Best Use of Public Records.”
Read the series at this link.
Watch for more award-winning journalism as it’s published
Page last updated Aug. 26, 2023