The Blytheville Courier News took home 17 total awards, including eight first-place finishes, from Saturday's annual awards luncheon, sponsored by the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors.
The Courier News competes in Division 1, which includes the state's small daily newspapers.
Among the first place nods was in the Website category. In awarding the first-place prize, judges said, "Blytheville stood out for its clean design, which made it easy to navigate throughout the various sections and stories."
The Courier News also won seven of the nine awards in the various column-writing categories. In Column-Hard News, Editor Andy Weld took first and second, while Managing Editor Mark Brasfield took third. In Sports Column, staff writer Aaron FitzPatrick took both second- and third-place honors. And in the Human Interest Column category, Staff Writer Shannon Spears Harris took first and third, with judges commenting that, "other newspapers should subscribe and read Shannon's columns to see how well she does what she does."
Two different photos also received top honors at the contest. Staff writer Chris Pinkard won first place for Spot News Photo for a photo of the Abilities Unlimited fire on Main Street last year. And FitzPatrick won first in Spot Sports Photo for an image captured during a Blytheville High School basketball game.
The Courier News also won second place in General Excellence. Judges praised the newspaper's local coverage and use of color, calling the prize a "close second."
"We have had great success over the years in these contests," said CN Publisher David Tennyson. "That's because, for our size, we have an outstanding and well-organized news staff. We put more time and money into our local news effort than we can realistically afford, but I wouldn't have it any other way."
The full list of Courier News awards is as follows:
-- Harris won first place in Column-Human Interest for a column about the death of a family member.
-- Harris won third place in Column-Human Interest for a column about a series of unfortunate incidents.
-- Weld won first place in Headline Writing for a headline about the passing of Jerry Musser, "Our hearts have a hole."
-- Weld won third place in Headline writing for a headline over a story about prom costs, "Prom $eason arrives."
-- Harris won first place in News Feature for an article about a domestic violence victim.
-- Harris won third place in News Feature for an article about the mother of one of the West Memphis murder victims.
-- Harris and Pinkard shared a first-place prize in Non-Traditional News Item for a news package about what it costs to arrest somebody, and where the money comes from.
-- The staff of the Courier News won first place for Website.
-- Pinkard won first place in Spot News Photo for a photo of the Abilities Unlimited fire.
-- FitzPatrick won first place in Spot Sports Photo for an image of a Chickasaw basketball player diving after a loose ball.
-- Weld won first place in Column-Hard News for a column about the city of Blytheville's IRS situation.
-- Weld won second place in Column-Hard News for a column critical of Blytheville Mayor James Sanders and his handling of the Matt Mosley resignation.
-- Brasfield won third place in Column-Hard News for a column examining a local church's role as a "paid campaign worker."
-- FitzPatrick won second place in Sports Column for a column questioning the use of a clock in youth baseball and softball games.
-- FitzPatrick won third place in Sports Column for a column about the Blytheville 10-year-old baseball team which played on, even after their coach died of a heart attack.
-- Brasfield and Harris shared a third-place award in Service to FOI for coverage of then-former Councilman R.L. Jones, and his alleged adjustment of water bills.
-- The staff of the Courier News won second place in General Excellence for its collection of entries.