Zorn, Record win $3,000 for investigative reporting

Record reporter Phyllis Zorn has won $2,000 and the newspaper $1,000 in a new nationwide program designed to encourage non-partisan investigative journalism.

Zorn and the Record were among three Kansas winners of A-Mark Foundation prizes revealed Friday at Kansas Press Association’s annual convention in Salina.

Three cash prizes are awarded annually in each state for investigative reporting published the previous year.

Zorn was honored for her reporting on convicted financial felon Jonathan Clayton’s overseeing of state grants and promotion from dogcatcher to interim clerk in Peabody before disappearing and being found dead amid reports of irregularities in handling of grant money.

The Record was the only traditional newspaper winning an A Mark award in Kansas. Other winners were not-for-profit online news services — the Kansas Reflector and The Journal of the Kansas Leadership Center.

Zorn’s coverage also won a first place in investigative reporting among mid-size newspapers in the state — one of 39 previously reported statewide awards the Record received at Friday’s convention.

The Record was named best in overall news and writing for the fourth time in past five years, swept first and second place in investigative reporting for the second year in a row, repeated for having the best news story, and was honored for having the best front page, best overall design, best editorial page, best editorial writing, best column writing, best story originating from a public notice (for which it also placed second), best series of stories, best health story, and best religion story among mid-size newspapers statewide.