People & Places >>

• Best Celebrity
  Simran Sethi
  When eco-journalist Simran Sethi left New York City for Lawrence, locals viewed the move as confirmation of what they had long purported — that their college town is cooler, hipper and more awesome than any place on Earth, including the Greatest City in the World. Sethi, host of Sundance... More >>
• Best Party Boy
  Casey Adams
  Remember Lindsay Lohan's ex-boyfriend Harry Morton? He's the son of the guy behind the Hard Rock Café and the grandson of the guy who founded those ritzy steakhouses that bear his family name. Harry's no slouch himself. He's the CEO of his own chain of restaurants called Pink Taco, which... More >>
• Best Party Girl
  Beth Guinta
  Lately, when the words party and girl are coupled, they evoke an image of some rail-thin blonde who's been up for days with her face buried in a mountain of blow or some dude's crotch. That's not anything we're clamoring to award with a Best Of. Beth Guinta, on the other hand, is definitely... More >>
• Best Local MySpace Page (1 Comment)
  myspace.com/finexchina
  If MySpace can make B-list celebrities out of people like Tila Tequila, then there's no reason to think that a boobalicious, bleached hottie from KC can't make it to that same airbrushed summit. We hereby introduce Jaded By Sophia, a Chinese-Brazilian DJ, model and go-go dancer who seeks fame... More >>
• Best Media Spat — News
  Steve Kraske vs. KCTV Channel 5
  Early this year, Kansas City Star political columnist Steve Kraske suddenly started throwing punches at KCTV Channel 5. "Tell me I'm not the only one being driven bonkers by the crime and grime dominating the news each night," he wrote on January 7. He recounted a typical local news lineup: a... More >>
• Best Media Spat — Weather Katie Horner vs. the World (1 Comment)
  No one whips up made-for-TV drama like KCTV Channel 5's chief meteorologist, Katie Horner. During a thunderstorm, she once advised viewers to seek shelter and strap on bike helmets. This year, she erroneously speculated that a beach ball floating in a Brush Creek flood might be a body. Critics... More >>
• Best Radio Personality (1 Comment)
  Sylvia Maria Gross
  Sylvia Maria Gross is a Yale grad and a Fulbright scholar who has lived in New York City and Brazil and holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. But listeners who tune in to KC Currents on KCUR 89.3, which Gross produces, don't need to know about her stunning... More >>
• Best Sports Talker
  Kevin Kietzman
  Kevin Kietzman's warning that basketball coach Bob Huggins might ditch Kansas State for West Virginia? Prophetic. His shameless defense of his alma mater K-State hiring Frank Smith, a basketball coach of dubious character? Homerism at its finest. This year, the city's top-rated jock banterer... More >>
• Best Animal Lover
  Deb Hipp
  Kansas City, Missouri, spends $56 million a year on a park system that has struggled to keep up with the times. Only one of the city's 212 parks offers an off-leash dog park, so Deb Hipp led an effort to give our furry friends a place to pant and frolic inside Sunnyside Park in Waldo. Yes, Hipp... More >>
• Best Political Pet — Mo.
  Mr. Bill
  Mr. Bill is a cavalier King Charles spaniel owned by Missouri Rep. Beth Low. He likes to show off his partisan tricks. For example, when Low asks him, "Would you rather be dead or a Republican?" Mr. Bill lies down and plays dead. And, as Low explains, Mr. Bill isn't a one-trick dog: "I ask him,... More >>
• Best Political Pet — Kan.
  Kevin Yoder's Campaign Dog
  What a good-looking dog. It's a golden retriever, seemingly as American as apple pie and Bill O'Reilly. At least we think it's a retriever, perfectly well-behaved, its tongue sweetly hanging out of its mouth as it lies at the feet of state Rep. Kevin Yoder, his wife and their two adorable girls... More >>
• Best State Campaign — Mo.
  Jolie Justus
  Jolie Justus was the little-known director of pro bono work at Kansas City's largest law firm when she decided to run for Charles Wheeler's old seat in the Missouri Senate. In the primary, Justus faced what must have seemed like a legion of doom: Jason Klumb, a well-funded politician-in-a-box... More >>
• Best State Campaign — Kan.
  Paul Morrison
  Johnson Countians, burdened as they still are with Phill Kline as their district attorney, might not appreciate this so much. But back in November, JoCo DA Paul Morrison turned Democrat for the express purpose of removing Kline from his seat in the Attorney General's Office. Morrison proceeded... More >>
• Best Politician
  Kan. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
  We're sure that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has done a lot of great things over her last term and a half, even though we can't name any of them off the top of our heads. Except for one, that is. The national media seem to be considering her an ever-more-serious possibility for vice president... More >>
• Best Display of Patriotism
  Kansas City, Kan.
  For a while, every day was the Fourth of July in KCK, with WyCo patriots blowing their paychecks at tent-covered fireworks emporiums. Screaming chasers enlivened the streets, blooming fizzles changed from gold to green to pink in midair, and loud KA-BOOMs made houses shake. The best thing about... More >>
• Best Failed Candidate for City Council
  Mark Porter
  In an extremely crowded race for a slew of open Kansas City, Missouri, City Council seats earlier this year, Mark Porter lost to incumbent Terry Riley in a landslide, with Riley claiming 79 percent of the vote. In a city that struggles with violent crime, we figured that Porter, a civilian known... More >>
• Best Political Blogger
  Gone Mild
  We've been a fan of Gone Mild's musings, especially after he stuck up for a local attorney accused of enticing a 14-year-old girl who (surprise!) turned out to be a law-enforcement officer. Not that we're pro-pedophile. Neither is Dan Ryan, who writes Gone Mild, but damned if he didn't actually... More >>
• Best Blog About Life (1 Comment)
  Happy in Bag
  Had Raymond Carver lived in Prairie Village, blogger Bill Brownlee would have been his ideal neighbor. On his blog, Happy in Bag (let's let the origin of that odd phrase remain a mystery), Brownlee documents everyday life like a suburban naturalist. Camera often in hand, he documents encounters... More >>
• Best Addition to Urban Life
  Kansas City, Mo., Police Mounted Patrol Section
  Eleven of Kansas City's best crime fighters live in a pretty blue barn, deep in the woods of Swope Park. The police department's mounted patrol section galloped into action earlier this year. Sgt. Kim Hannan says supervising the horse unit has been the most positive experience in her 30 years on... More >>
• Best Church
  Calvary Temple Baptist
  We expect all churches to keep a focus on spirituality, but we keep an eye on how they deal with earthly issues, too. Humble as a pastor should be, Calvary Temple Baptist's Rev. Eric Williams says another church, Metropolitan Baptist, does a better job when it comes to promoting economic... More >>
• Best Immigration Activist
  Melinda Lewis
  Melinda Lewis isn't the kind of activist who fires up a crowd at a sign-waving immigration rally. But while charismatic protest organizers come and go, Lewis is the voice that's often lacking from the emotional debate: consistent and data-driven. As the director of policy advocacy and research... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Leader
  Patty Orth
  A lifelong resident of the St. Peter's Cathedral neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas, Patty Orth hasn't let derelict rental housing or drive-by shootings or prostitutes lingering in her back alley push her out. Instead, this pragmatic neighborhood association president has worked to bring in... More >>
• Best Midtowner
  Diane Burnette
  Tax-increment financing has put a lot of money in the pockets of developers and their lawyers. It's done less for people who live and work closer to the ground. But thanks to the efforts of Diane Burnette, the executive director of the Main Street Corridor Development Corp. (or MainCor), the... More >>
• Best City Employee
  Sam Swearngin
  In the late 1990s, Kansas City was so environmentally backward that it had trouble grasping the concept of recycling. But Sam Swearngin, the city's fleet superintendent, was revving up efforts that would make the metro a national leader in alternative-fuel use. In 1996, Swearngin convinced city... More >>
• Best Power Couple (1 Comment)
  Joe and Debi Ward
  Drive around Kansas City, Kansas, for a couple of hours, and you're bound to see a bumper sticker or two warning that Kansas City, Kansas, "isn't for sissies." We're still trying to figure out who's behind that mobile advisory, but if Joe and Debi Ward got into the bumper-sticker business, their... More >>
• Best New Law
  Prohibition Lifted at the Mutual Musicians Foundation
  When politicians write laws with a special interest in mind, the public usually loses. But only squares could object to liquor flowing at the Mutual Musicians Foundation's late-night jam sessions. The foundation is one of the last living testaments to Kansas City's jazz heyday. After a... More >>
• Best Nod to KC Culture
  Xtension Food Mart
  We love stopping for gas at the Xtension Food Mart on Rainbow a few blocks north of KU Medical Center. Every time we fill up, we get to groove to the cool, dirty, greasy blues blasting from speakers near the pumps. Most of the time, we don't even know who's playing, but the steady driving beats,... More >>