Junction City ? The Lawrence Journal-World won the top newspaper award during the Kansas Press Association’s 2008 Awards of Excellence Saturday night at the Courtyard by Marriott.

The Journal-World received KPA’s Sweepstakes Award in recognition for winning the most awards in its newspaper division.

The Journal-World also received 22 first-place, eight second-place and nine third-place awards and four honorable mentions.

The Bonner Springs Chieftain, a weekly also owned by The World Company, won the sweepstakes in its division.

First-place Journal-World winners:

¢ News Story: “Backlog makes for a long wait” by Christine Metz.

¢ Investigative Story: “Parking lots a target” by Metz.

¢ News Series: “Mining’s legacy: A scar on Kansas” by Thad Allender and Mike Belt.

¢ Editorial Writing and Editorial Pages: Ann Gardner.

¢ Government/Political Story: “Roberts to push lab effort” by George Diepenbrock.

¢ Religion Story: “Gone but not forgotten” by Terry Rombeck.

¢ Feature Story: “Kathy’s long journey” by Bill Snead.

¢ Sports Story: “Beyond a doubt” by Ryan Wood.

¢ Sports Feature Story: “The venerable Venable” by Tom Keegan.

¢ Headline Writing: Susan Roberts.

¢ Feature Photo: “Graduation” by Mike Yoder.

¢ Sports Photo: “Jayhawks OK against pass” by John Henry.

¢ Photo Package: “For a little town like this, it’s a big deal” by Allender.

¢ Photo Illustration: Allender.

¢ Special Section: KU Today, edited by Christy Little.

¢ Feature Package: “24 Hours in the life of Lawrence” by the staff.

¢ Infographic: “Arctic academics” by Karl Gehring and Metz.

The Journal-World also won first place for News and Writing, Design and Layout, Best Front Page and Best Newspaper Web site.

Receiving second-place awards were Chad Lawhorn for Local Business Story and Sports Feature Story; Scott Rothschild for Government/Political Story; Erin Castaneda for Youth Story; Katie Kritikos for Headline Writing; Nick Krug for Sports Photo; Allender for Photo Package; and the Sports staff for Sports Pages.

Receiving third-place awards were Karrey Britt for Feature Writing; Lawhorn for News Series; Mark Fagan for Local Business Story; Gary Bedore for Sports Story; Matt Tait for Sports Feature Story; Krug for News Photo and Photo Package; Yoder for Feature Photo; and the staff for Best Use of Photos.

Receiving honorable mentions were Fagan for Government/Political Story; Jon Niccum for Youth Story; Andrew Hartsock for Sports Feature Story; and the staff for a special section on retiring in Lawrence.