The Wetzel Chronicle staff. Front row from left: Lisa Northcraft, Amy Witschey, and Diann Wright. Back row: Bruce Crawford, Tammy Bucy, Miranda Stokes, and Bill Abraham.

The Wetzel Chronicle brought home three first place, two second place, and three third place awards from the West Virginia Press Association’s annual conference held over the weekend at The Waterfront Hotel in Morgantown, W.Va.

The awards were part of the annual Better Newspaper Contest. Thirty- one of the state’s newspapers placed over 2,000 entries in the contest this year, with the competition divided among six groups–three for dailies and three for weeklies–according to circulation size. The contest included 28 categories, ranging from news writing, photography and design, to community service.

The Wetzel Chronicle’s first place awards were for best front page, best headline news, and best news photography. Second place honors were for best sports page or pages and best special section for our “fair days” supplement. Finally, third place nods came for best single issues, best sports photography, and service to the community.