Examiner honored in KC Press Club contest

Several Examiner staff members earned honors during the recent Heart of America Awards contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Kansas City Press Club.

Examiner photographer Amy Elrod took first and third, and photo editor Julie Scheidegger took second in the photojournalism feature category for newspapers with circulation below 50,000. Elrod took the gold award for “A corny idea,” showing the joys of children in pumpkin patches and cornfields. Scheidegger won silver for “A mother mourns,” about a family burying their fallen soldier son. Elrod won bronze for “Grateful Nation,” images of veterans.

Each also won an honorable mention, Elrod for a photo of the Diamond Bowl in Independence and Scheidegger for a photo headlined, “Searching for crawdads.”

Scheidegger and Elrod also swept the awards in sports photography: Scheidegger won gold for “Jubilant Victory,” which the judges said displays “joy that is infectious and perfectly framed.” Elrod won silver, and Scheidegger won bronze.

Reporter Hugh Welsh won gold in the entertainment category for “Bird Lady,” about Yvonne Patterson, who gathers, then shares her love of, and knowledge of, birds.

Welsh also got an honorable mention in the profile category for “A killer down the street.”

Elrod and Welsh won silver in the multimedia package category, for “First and Ten,” about kids football.

In the feature writing category, Jeff Fox won gold for a story he and Scheidegger produced about Amtrak service in Missouri, “Are we there yet?” Reporter Rhiannon Ross got an honorable mention for “The rains came down.”