The Suffolk News-Herald won 23 awards in the Virginia Press Association’s annual competition this year.

Staff members were recognized for their work in every print category of the competition, which judges the writing, photography, artwork, news presentation and multimedia presentations from daily and weekly newspapers around the commonwealth.

The News-Herald competes in a division that includes 13 Virginia daily newspapers.

Staff members won 10 first-place awards, nine second-place awards and four third-place awards in the newspaper competition.

The newspaper’s staff swept the awards for special sections or special editions, winning first-, second- and third-place awards for its Strides, FYI and Peanut Fest sections, respectively.

The staff also won first place for its editorial page.

Individual first-place awards went to designer Beth Land for informational graphics on euthanasia of animals, to news editor Tracy Agnew for business and financial writing and for government writing, to designer Troy Cooper for column writing, to editor Res Spears for editorial writing and for his feature-writing portfolio and to reporter Matthew Ward for education writing.

Commenting on the editorials submitted for the contest, a judge wrote, “Excellent calls to action after laying out a strong case for the need. These editorials skillfully move the reader along the storylines and allow the reader to get riled up before delivering a poignant call to respond. Bravo!”

Agnew and Spears also combined for a first-place award for their general-news coverage of the brutal attack on Suffolk Police Officer James Winslow, as well as the manhunt, arrest and trial that followed and the outpouring of community support for Winslow as he has fought to recover from his injuries.

Individual second-place awards went to Agnew for a feature series in honor of Black History Month and for public-safety reporting, to Ward for general news writing and for investigative reporting and to Spears for column writing.

Second-place awards also were won by Land and sports reporter Titus Mohler for sports pages, by Land and Spears for their food pages and by Agnew and Spears for breaking news writing.

Individual third-place awards went to Ward for his environmental stories on the Great Dismal Swamp, to Agnew for investigative reporting and to Spears for a pictorial photo from Peanut Fest.

In a separate division for specialty publications, Suffolk Living magazine, which is produced by the same staff as the newspaper, won a first-place award in design and presentation, by Troy Cooper. Cooper also won a third-place award for page design in the magazine, and he and editor Res Spears took third place for front cover design.