Prestigious awards have honored the work of Kansas City Star journalists for decades.
In its 126-year history, the newspaper has won seven Pulitzer prizes and a special Pulitzer citation. It also has won four George Polk Awards since 1991, several National Headliner Awards and numerous other national honors.
Here are some of its recent awards:
OVERALL
• The Star has won 15 of the last 16 Gold Cups awarded by the Missouri Press Association for the most points overall in the annual journalism contest. It won the Sweepstakes award in the 2010 Kansas Press Association contest.
NEWS
• Laura Bauer, Mike McGraw and Mark Morris 2009 series "A New Slavery" about human trafficking was awarded by Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. as an outstanding example of watchdog journalism.
• It also received the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for outstanding coverage of injustice against the underprivileged.
SPORTS
• The Star was awarded the 2009 Triple Crown, sports journalisms highest honor, from the Associated Press Sports Editors -- the third time in four years. It has also won best special section for 11 years straight, along with numerous other writing awards.
BUSINESS
• The business desk’s reporters have won many awards, and in 2008 the staff was one of three in the large-paper category to win a "Best in Business" honor from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
FEATURES
• In 2009, the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors honored the FYI section as one of the Top Ten features sections in the country, with first place awards going to James Fussell for best feature story, Steve Paul for best reader interactive feature and Robert Trussell for best entertainment story.
• The Star’s House & Home section was named the best home or real estate section in the country by the National Association of Real Estate Editors.
• The Stars Food section, edited by Jill Wendholt Silva, is one of three finalists for the Association of Food Journalists’ Best Newspaper Food Coverage award for papers with circulation of 250,000 or more. Silva also is a finalist in the Best Food Feature category for a Star Magazine piece on a local chef and his restaurant.
• A collaboration by Silva and House & Home Editor Jocelyn Jacobson on planning and executing a sustainable Thanksgiving is a finalist for Best Newspaper Special Project. Winners will be announced in September.
• Silva won the Hunger Champion Award from Harvesters, the Community Food Network.
• The Food section won the 2004 James Beard award for best section.
• Senior writer and arts editor Steve Paul was named Architectural Advocate of the Year for 2009 from the American Institute of Architects/Kansas City.