Awards 2021
In 2021, the Kansas Professional Communicators selected the two columns:
The best medicine and Jerome's wheel of life
for a First Place award.
Judges' comments included:
You have a real gift when you write your columns. They are, in some way, like the road of travels you describe in "Jerome's
Wheel of Life." You start with a premise, meander through a few examples and pull all the threads back to end with the lesson with
which you started.
A second column published in the Manhattan Mercury newspaper received a Second Place award. Judges' comments included:
A straightforward look at part of one woman's life, along with her family.
The article content can be seen at Annie Pillsbury.
The KPC also selected the book An Opportunity to be Better,
co-authored by Gloria and husband Art, for a First Place award.
Judges' comments included:
What an absolutely fascinating story. Your research is impeccable and the presentation of the story is well organized. Including
photos where they meet the text is ideal as it easily advances the story. And including a section of biographies of key people is a
wonderful detail often forgotten.
A column published in the Manhattan Mercury newspaper received a Second Place award as a personality profile. It was
about our retiring rural-route mail carrier. Judges' comments included:
What a heartwarming story about a man who probably didn't realize the effect he had on others just by doing his job.
Telling his story through others' eyes was especially effective.
That article was also published in Kansas Snapshots and can be seen at Wayne in our world!
KPC First-Place winners were automatically entered into the National Federation of Press Women contest. The columns
"The best medicine" and "Jerome's wheel of life," as well as the book "An Opportunity to be Better," received Honorable Mentions.
Judges' comments about the columns included:
What I like about your columns is the way you incorporate the poems and connect so many pieces of information into a snapshot of
who you are.
Judges' comments about the book included:
The story combines the sister city project between a small town in Kansas and one in Lorraine in France. The French town suffered
in both World Wars, and this tells of an outstanding effort of Kansas' earnest citizens to counteract the effect of WWII in
particular. The story is given strength by the involvement of US-France cooperation. The citizens of the two areas exchanged
meaningful visits and, as a result, the two places will continue to connect in the future. ... I applaud the inclusion of students
in the project.