The Newberry Observer news staff took eight awards in the 2009 South Carolina Press Association annual contest.

The staff took second place in the news special edition category with the submission of “1883-2008: The Newberry Observer.”

The entire staff also took third place in the lifestyle and features special edition or section for its work on “A Sense of Place.”

“I’m especially proud of the projects we took on as a team and knocked out of the park,” Editor Holly Astwood says of the special section wins. “Little papers can do big projects and rural communities have big stories to tell, as evidenced by these special editions that brought home awards.”

Astwood took two third places for news and headline writings. The news headlines submitted by Astwood included: “Trials at courthouse,” “College prank was no joke” and “Home invader gets 10 years inside.”

The feature headline submissions included: “End of the line?,” “A sign of respect,” “Info sessions dial in dangers of teens, cell phones.”

Staff Writer Leslie Moses received a third place win in the series of articles category for her series of profiles entitled “Why they Relay: Survivors and the American Cancer Society.”

Cindy Pitts, staff writer, garnered three awards with a second place in series of articles, a second place in spot news and a third place in photo series or story.

Her series of articles was entitled “Navigating a new economy.”

The spot news photo was called “Time out” and featured a Newberry firefighter in a praying stance after fighting a house fire.

The third place win for photo series or story came from her work, “Saluting with honors,” a series of photos depicting a military funeral escort practicing its solemn task.

“The eight SCPA awards received by the staff at the Newberry Observer are a great example of what the staff can be projected to do in 2010 in our community,” said Publisher Denny Koenders. “We are very proud of our editorial staff, which will continue to serve the community of Newberry. We also invite the community to be a part in producing a great local newspaper.”