The Greenville Advocate won eight awards in the 2004 Alabama Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards will be presented to the Advocate during APA’s 133rd annual summer convention held at the Perdido Beach Resort on July 23.

There were 76 newspapers from across the state that submitted 2,913 total entries for the contest.

The Florida Press Association judged the entries.

The Advocate won the first place award for the Best use of a photo or graphic for &uot;Love is in the air,&uot; by Chris Henley that published in September 2003 about the love bug infestation.

Other awards won include:

n Second place for Best In-Depth News Coverage or Series for its tax accountability series.

n Second place for Best Sports Single Event Story for &uot;Basic Training&uot; by Adam Prestridge.

n Third place for Best Economic Coverage.

n Third place for Best Use of Photographs/Editorial Content.

n Third place for Best Editorial for &uot;Chief Justice fight shouldn’t cost taxpayers" by Jay Thomas.

n Third place for Best Sports News In-Depth or Series for &uot;Broken palaces&uot; by Adam Prestridge.

n Third place for Best Special Section for &uot;The South’s best kept secret.&uot;

The Advocate’s sister newspaper, The Luverne Journal, also a division of Greenville Newspapers, LLC. received four awards including:

N First place for the First Amendment Award.

N Third place for Best Spot News Story for &uot;Five officers injured in shooting&uot; by George Wacha.

N Second and third place for Best In-Depth News Coverage for Series for &uot;Cutting back the fat&uot; and &uot;Where’s it at?&uot; respectively.

&uot;I’m extremely proud of our staff for receiving these awards,&uot; said Greenville Newspapers’ publisher Dennis Palmer. &uot;To be recognized for excellence by our peers is indeed an honor. The Greenville Advocate and Luverne Journal have a long history of being quality community newspapers that are considered the best in the state, and we hope to continue that trend in the future by working hard to first meet, then exceed the expectations of our readers and advertisers.&uot;