BILOXI – The DAILY LEADER news department captured first placein the General Excellence competition for small daily newspapersSaturday during the Mississippi Press Association’s BetterNewspaper Contest for 2008.

The General Excellence victory was among five first-place awardsand 13 overall received by the newspaper. The DAILY LEADER competedin the Daily Division C category for newspapers with circulationsunder 9,000.

“Winning General Excellence is a fantastic accomplishment forour newsroom and illustrates the hard work our staff puts in to thenewspaper on a daily basis,” said Publisher Bill Jacobs. “I’m veryproud of the staff for all the awards we received.”

Other first-place awards went to Sports Editor Tom Goetz forBest Sports Columns and to Lifestyles Editor Tammie Brewer for BestHeadlines.

Staff Writer Adam Northam won first place in the Best FeatureStory category for a story on two longtime friends at Shady Oaks.Also, Staff Writer Therese Apel received a first-place award in theBest Picture-Story Combo Category for a story about firefighters’efforts to capture a parrot at a local restaurant.

Second-place honors went to the newspaper’s annual FOCUS editionin the Best Special Section category and to Goetz for Best SportsPage.

Jacobs placed third in the Best General Interest Column categoryand Managing Editor Matthew Coleman received a third-place award inthe Best Editorial Page category. Also, Northam garnered athird-place honor in the Best In-Depth/Investigative Reportingcategory.

Honorable Mentions went to Coleman for Best Editorials, Brewerfor Best Lifestyles Page or Section and Northam for BestPersonality/Portrait photograph.