The Blytheville Courier News won six total awards, including three first-place nods at Saturday's Better Newspaper Contest, sponsored by the Arkansas Press Association.
The awards were handed out during the association's annual SuperConvention in Hot Springs.
Staff writer Aaron FitzPatrick won first place in the Sports Column category for a piece titled, "An Underserving 'Dance Dad's' lament." FitzPatrick also picked up a third place award in the Sports News Story category for a story about the Gosnell Pirates conference championship in football.
Editor Andy Weld received two first place awards. One was for News/Political Column for an article about the hiring of Barrett Harrison as BGRAA president. The other was for Best Front Page for a collection of entries.
Managing editor Mark Brasfield also won a pair of awards. Brasfield took third place in the Single News Photograph category for a shot taken at a homicide scene in early 2010. Brasfield also received honorable mention recognition for Sports News Story for coverage of Blytheville Chickasaw boys basketball.
The Courier News competes in Division 1 of the contest, which includes the state's small daily newspapers.