TUNICA – The DAILY LEADER and its staff won 19 awardsSaturday in the Mississippi Press Association’s Better NewspaperContest.

The 19 awards include five each for first, second andthird place and four for honorable mention. Awards were presentedSaturday during the association’s summer convention.

“I’m extremely proud of our staff,” said Publisher BillJacobs. “The awards reflect the hard work of each and every personon our staff. And although individuals won awards, they stillreflect the work of the entire newspaper.”

In competition against all newspapers, photographerJonathon Alford won Photo of the Year for a picture taken during ahouse fire last year. Also, The DAILY LEADER won a third placeaward in the Freedom of Information category for its open meetingsefforts.

In competition with daily newspapers with circulationsof under 9,000, Managing Editor Nanette Laster won two first placeawards for Best Editorials and Best Headline. Other individualfirst place award winners were Sports Editor Tom Goetz for BestSports News Story and Alford for Best Spot News Photograph. TheDAILY LEADER won one first place award in the Best Special Sectionor Issue category for its Focus edition.

The DAILY LEADER won a second place award for BestDesign. Individual second place winners included Jacobs for BestEditorials, Staff Writer Scott Tynes and News Editor MatthewColeman for Best Planned Series of Stories, Goetz for Best SportsColumn and Alford for Best Sports Action Photograph.

Alford won three third place awards in the Best SportsFeature Photograph, Best Pictorial Series In One Issue and BestPersonality Portrait categories. The DAILY LEADER captured a thirdplace award for Best Front Page.

The DAILY LEADER also received an honorable mention inthe General Excellence category. Individuals receiving an honorablemention include Goetz for Best Sports Feature, Coleman for BestPicture-Story Combination and Lifestyles Editor Cassandra Johnsonfor Best Lifestyles Page or Section.

“I’m especially proud of our Freedom of Informationaward, which involved our efforts to open meetings, the first placeaward for Focus 2000 and the General Excellence award. I’m alsoespecially proud of Jonathon Alford for winning the MPA Photo ofthe Year Award. This is the second time this year he has won thataward. He also won Photo of the Year last month with the AssociatedPress,” Jacobs said.

The MPA Awards are given each year to newspapers acrossthe state. The newspapers are broken down into six categories:Dailies with circulations above 20,000, 9,000-20,000 and under9,000 and weeklies with circulations above 4,000, 2,500-4,000 andbelow 2,500. The DAILY LEADER competes in the daily division withcirculation below 9,000.

“These awards reflect our effort to help build a betternewspaper for our readers and the community in our four countycirculation area,” Jacobs said.