The Selma Times-Journal won third place in the General Excellence category in Division B of Alabama Press Association’s 2018 Better Newspaper Contest. The announcement was made Saturday during the Association’s annual meeting in Orange Beach.

In total, the Times-Journal won 32 awards in three divisions – newspaper, advertising and magazine, and included 15 first-place awards, 5 second-place awards and 12 third-place awards. The Virginia Press Association judged the entries.

“I’m very proud of our staff for the work they do, the passion and commitment they have to serve our community through the pages of its newspaper,” said Times-Journal publisher Dennis Palmer. “To receive recognition from your peers for the work you do is indeed special, because those folks know the challenges that come with working at and producing a daily newspaper whose goal is to serve its community well.”

The 15 first-place awards were:

Best lifestyle/ family pages

Best local news coverage

Best production and printing

Best newspaper website

Best spot news story – “Not the Selma I grew up in” by Blake Deshazo

Best business story or column – “What happened: St. James Hotel boarded up” by Justin Averette

Best sports news in-depth coverage – “Champs” by Thomas Scott and Alaina Deshazo

Best sports feature story – “1977 Selma team looks back on championship” by Daniel Evans

Best local sports column – “Celebration long overdue for Concordia basketball” by Daniel Evans

Best feature photo – “Purple Rain” by Alaina Deshazo

Best spot news photo – “Not the Selma I grew up in” by Alaina Deshazo

Online breaking news coverage – “Not the Selma I grew up in” by Blake Deshazo

Best single ad over half page color – “International Paper renewable resources” by staff

Best innovative online advertising (single ad) – “Preferred Eyecare” by staff

Best advertising campaign or series – Boyd Financial” by staff

Sixty-two newspapers participated in the newspaper contest with 39 participating in the advertising contest and 24 in the magazine contest.