win MPA awards

BILOXI &8212; The Natchez Democrat won 32 awards Saturday at the annual Mississippi Press Association conference, including general excellence.

This marks the third consecutive year The Democrat has one first place in the overall excellence category. The conference is held annually and includes papers from across the state.

The paper won nine first place awards including:

Best design

Best general news story &8212;

Julie Finley

Best graphic &8212;

Ben Hillyer

Best headline

Best planned series of stories &8212; Hillyer

Best feature story &8212;

Kerry Whipple

Bean

Best sports feature photo &8212; Hillyer

Other awards include:

Best sports action photo &8212; Hillyer, third place

Best feature photo &8212; Hiller, second place and third place; Barbara Gerard Kaiser, honorable mention

Best pictorial series &8212; Molly Dempsey, first place

Best picture-story combination &8212; Hillyer and Finley, second place

Best general news photograph &8212;

Marcie McDowell

, second place

Best spot news photo &8212;Hillyer, second place

Best front page &8212; The Natchez Democrat, third place

Best editorials &8212; Bean, third place

Best sports section &8212;

Adam Daigle

, first place

Best special section &8212; The Democrat, second place

Best graphic &8212; Hillyer, second and third place

Best spot news story &8212;

Nita McCann

, second place; Bean, Christian Schmidt and McCann, third place

Best indepth/investigative coverage &8212; Finley, second place

Best planned series of stories &8212; Finley, second place

Best general interest column &8212; Finley, second place

Best commentary column &8212; Bean, third place

Best sports news story &8212; Daigle, third place

Best sports feature &8212; Daigle, second place

Best feature story &8212;

Joan Gandy

, second place

Best lifestyles page or section &8212; The Democrat, second place