The Natchez Democrat received seven first-place awards Saturday at the Louisiana-Mississippi Associated Press Managing Editors Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

Visual editor Ben Hillyer won five individual first-place awards, for spot news photo, sports feature, illustration, multi-picture package and graphics.

The staff of The Democrat also won a first-place award for continuing coverage on tort reform efforts in Mississippi.

&uot;We are pleased by this recognition from our peers,&uot; editor Kerry Whipple said, &uot;and we pledge to continue providing our readers with a quality community newspaper.&uot;

In other awards:

4First place: general feature story, Joan Gandy; layout and design, Hillyer and Whipple.

4Second place: sports feature story, Adam Daigle; feature photo, Elaine Buschman; multi-picture package, Hillyer; and sports action photo, Buschman.

4Third place: interpretive story, Aaron Zachmeier; feature photo, Hillyer; illustration, Hillyer; and headlines, staff.

In addition, Whipple was elected president of the Louisiana-Mississippi Association Press Managing Editors Association.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans received the Frank Allen &uot;Story of the Year&uot; award for its five-part series, &uot;Washing Away,&uot; which detailed the catastrophic potential of future hurricanes and the consequences of shoreline erosion. The story was written by John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein.

Ted Jackson of the Times-Picayune received the C.P. Liter &uot;Photo of the Year&uot; award for his package of pictures illustrating a boy’s struggle with the Leap test.