The Kansas City Star wins 13 reporting awards from local Press Club

The Kansas City Star won 13 reporting awards from the Kansas City Press Club.

The Heart of America Awards, presented Saturday, recognize journalists in western Missouri and eastern Kansas.

The Star won 10 first-place Gold Awards and three second-place Silver Awards.

The Star's series "Why so secret, Kansas?" won first place in the public service project category.

Aaron Randle won three Gold Awards. His story about young black people feeling unwelcome in Kansas City's social scene won the Arts & Entertainment Reporting award.

Randle, photojournalist Shelly Yang and digital journalist Neil Nakahodo won first place in the profile category for work on transgender teens finding a safe space at KC Passages.

Randle also won with photojournalist Allison Long for a feature about churches taking a fresh approach to attracting millennials.

Bryan Lowry and Lindsay Wise won first place for reporting on sexual harassment allegations against a U.S. House contender.

Judy L. Thomas won first place for her beat reporting on domestic terrorism.

Thomas also shared a first-place business reporting award with Donna McGuire for an investigation of safety risks on party buses.

Jeneé Osterheldt won the top prize in the news column category.

Beth Lipoff, a freelance writer, won first place prizes for best magazine story and best feature photojournalism and also second place in the magazine story category for her work in The Star.

Lowry also won second place for his beat coverage of Kansas government. Lowry, Steve Vockrodt and Hunter Woodall won a second place investigative reporting award for a story exposing how friends of a congressional candidate profited at taxpayer expense while he worked in former Gov. Sam Brownback's cabinet.

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 5:54 PM.