Wichita Eagle journalists win national awards for their work benefiting the community
Two Wichita Eagle journalists have been lauded with national awards for their work benefiting the community.
Opinion page editor and columnist Dion Lefler won the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize for column writing at newspapers in The Eagle’s circulation category.
One column included in his win was for commentary Lefler wrote about a dying man’s hospital room being raided for possession of marijuana extracts.
“It was just a raging injustice that spoke to me about the way . . . people can be treated by the system, and I just had to say something about it,” Lefler said.
Another important issue to him was myths surrounding gun violence.
Lefler arrived to the scene of a mass shooting in California earlier in his career, and he said, “I got there in time to see everything happen, and it’s not like what you see on TV.”
He said he wrote a column on it for The Eagle because “we’re never going to be able to do anything about gun violence until we start telling the truth about it.”
Another column was on the privatization of Wichita’s parks.
“That’s something that touches everybody in Wichita,” Lefler said. “Parks belong to the people. . . . They don’t belong to private businesses, or they shouldn’t.”
He said the issue has been going on for years, “And I finally got to say something.”
Lefler was an investigative reporter for The Eagle for more than two decades, during which time he covered a variety of local and state politics. He said he learned about how systems work, or don’t work, and now can use that knowledge to inform his opinion writing.
“I think the best service I can do for readers is to be able to share that with them.”
Though he said he was surprised at his award, Lefler said, “I feel like this was the job I was meant to do.”
In an e-mail to staff announcing Lefler’s win, executive editor Michael Roehrman wrote, “This is a big win amongst some heavy competition.”
The News Leaders Association, which presents annual awards for distinguished journalism and leadership, named Eagle reporter Michael Stavola one of two winners of the Frank A. Blethen Award for Local Accountability Reporting for a series of stories about the Wichita Police Department’s text messaging scandal.
As Stavola wrote, “A pattern of racism and disdain for people shot by police has surfaced in private messages between a small group of Wichita-area law enforcement officers, including several who have shot civilians.”
According to the Missouri School of Journalism-based association, Stavola’s work was chosen for what it exposed and how it benefited Wichita.
“The Wichita Eagle brought enviable reporting depth and incredibly impressive police sourcing to bear on this expose about racist messages openly shared among members of the local department,” the judges wrote.
“The reporting coming from this local newsroom had widespread impact that tremendously benefited the community and shocked even its highest ranking officials.”
Stavola said that “the recognition is awesome, but it means even more to me to see change.”
He said it was gratifying that after he showed a behind-the-scenes look at the department and how it self governs — and not always effectively — the community and city leaders decided something should be done.
“A lot of times these are things that never get out in the public,” Stavola said. “I’m happy that there was a response that led to some changes.”
