Last August, Fulton Sun reporter Helen Wilbers was called to Kingdom City to investigate a major crash on Interstate 70.
Her description of the three-semi accident - one leaking beer across the asphalt - has earned Wilbers a first-place award in Spot News reporting, Division I. Results from the Missouri Associated Press Media Editors newspaper contest were revealed Thursday at the state Capitol.
Wilbers' story ("Several Hurt in 3-Semi Accident on I-70") can be read on the Fulton Sun website: bit.ly/2GipDsu.
In addition, two stories written by editor Jenny Gray took third-place awards. One was in Opinion Writing: "Anniversary of 9/11 is Personal." The other was in Public Interest/Investigative or In-Depth Reporting: "Historic Church's Tiny Statue is Mostly a Mystery."
Sister newspaper, the Jefferson City News Tribune, took a third-place for Best Website, third-place in Feature Writing, second-place in Opinion Writing and first-place in Spot Sports reporting.
In the 2017 APME contest, Wilbers also won a first-place award in Public Interest/Investigative or In-Depth Reporting for a collection of stories about the death of Carl DeBrodie.
Nineteen newspapers submitted 413 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories and photos from 2018. A list of winners can be found at discover.ap.org/contests/Missouri-newspaper.
The Associated Press is a nonprofit news cooperative representing 1,400 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the United States.