Star collaboration with Kansas City Public Library wins historic preservation award
.png "The What’s Your KCQ? project has answered questions about local statues, holiday traditions, famous Kansas Citians and bygone industries in 2024.")
Since 2018, The Kansas City Star and Kansas City Public Library have been answering readers’ questions and shedding light on local history through the What’s Your KCQ? project. Now it’s won an award.
On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Historic Kansas City announced that What’s Your KCQ? had been awarded the George Ehrlich Award for “an outstanding publication in preservation, history, urban design, or a related topic.”
The project allows Star readers, library patrons and anyone else interested to submit a question to an online form. Many concern local history, but inquiries about all topics are welcome.
Then, either a Star journalist or a researcher with the Missouri Valley Special Collections will dig into our archives or speak to sources to answer the question and write an article.
Over six years, the project has published more than 130 pieces, examining everything from neighborhood sculptures and bells on the Plaza to the Riverside race tracks and Prohibition-era mob bosses.
“The project not only serves as an educational tool but also as a bridge connecting residents with the architectural and cultural heritage of Kansas City,” senior special collections librarian Michael Wells wrote in the award submission to Historic Kansas City.
The award is named after Ehrlich, an art history professor who taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and published a book and many articles about Kansas City’s architecture, including in The Star.
The award has previously been awarded to books on Montgall Avenue in Kansas City and Mount Washington Cemetery, as well as the KCUR podcast “A People’s History of Kansas City.”
“Being able to interact with readers is important to our newsroom, and this project allows us to engage with them on a variety of topics. They often end up learning a lot, and so do our journalists,” said Andale Gross, The Star’s managing editor. “We’re proud of the project and honored to receive the award.”
The What’s Your KCQ? project is ongoing and currently seeking questions that readers want to know. Submit a question at kclibrary.org/kcq or by emailing kcq@kcstar.com.
