The News garners 12 awards

AMARILLO — The Eastern New Mexico News on Saturday received 12 awards at the annual Panhandle Press Association gathering, including the top prize of General Excellence.

The News picked up seven first-place awards, including:

• News writing (Jamie Cushman, David Grieder, David Stevens, Kevin Wilson)

• Editorial writing (Stevens)

• Humorous column writing (Wilson)

• Sports writing (Peter Stein and Wilson)

• Spot news photos (Cushman, Grieder and Wilson)

• Front-page layout (Jenna Zamie)

• Headline writing (staff)

The News also received two second-place awards, along with two third-place honors.

General Excellence — given the newspaper scoring the most awards — went to The News for the fourth year in a row, the 14th time since 2001.