Nikole Babb

Dear readers,

I’ve been looking for the right words to say thank you so here’s a piece of my heart.

I have a hard time managing a work-life balance and caring to update social media often or write editorial columns, but I do enjoy sharing the wonderful things of life with everyone. This wonderful thing I’ll share next is thanks to the Butler County community, really. I announced in April I had been awarded three Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence awards. These are my first KPA awards.

It never feels right to brag, it feels more embarrassing to me, really. For me, I keep my head down and do my job. But this is something I want to share because one of the stories made a big impact that I was able to measure through victim statements and correspondence. And I’m so grateful for their kind words and openness in speaking with me during a very traumatic and challenging experience in their life. Their trust in me to tell their story accurately means the world to me.

Those three stories that were recognized were:

2nd place

News Story: Community concerned about predator, window peeper

Video Journalism: Andover YMCA celebrates grand opening

3rd place

Column Writing: Explore El Dorado

Journalists across the country are understaffed, over worked and underpaid but continue to do their job for the love of curiosity, learning new things every single day, and the need to tell important stories – be it crime, lifestyle, business, local government, or what have you. Awards aren’t everything but what is everything is proving that real, local journalism is still a NEED in communities and being able to fill that need.

It can’t be washed away by a million public relation employees and a million more press releases. It can’t be washed away by big media and politicians telling us “legacy media” is “fake news” or can’t be trusted.

Readers are proving, one small town at a time, that they want local stories told by a local journalist for local residents and they want it to be balanced and fair, not just one sided. They’re proving that their hometown news reporters can be trusted and work hard to earn their trust. Residents too, are curious.

This is all to say a big thank you to anyone who reads their local paper, online or in print, has ever read the Times-Gazette’s stories and continues to support local journalism. The reward is fostering a stronger community and making connections for others while being able to tell a true and balanced version of history every day. The stories recognized are available online if you’re curious to see what the KPA has said is honorable enough to recognize across the state against competitors bigger than the Times-Gazette with an entire news team bigger than ours.

Thank you.