FROM STAFF REPORTS

ORANGE BEACH &8212; The Demopolis Times was awarded 20 honors Saturday in the Alabama Associated Press Managing Editors journalism contest for 2007 during the news group&8217;s annual convention held on the Gulf Coast. The Times received six first place honors, six second-place awards and eight honorable mention recognitions. The contest was divided into four classes based on newspaper size.

The Times news staff received first place recognitions for non-deadline page design. The Times also received second place and honorable mention awards for deadline page design.

Times staff writer Kelli Wright and Phillips-Odom won first place in the picture story division for a Freedom on the River photo essay.

Phillips-Odom also won first place awards in spot news photo. She was awarded second place honors in the news features and picture story categories. Phillips-Odom also was recognized with honorable mention awards in the non-deadline reporting and business news categories.

Former Times sports editor Brandon Glover received first place honors in sports non-deadline reporting, sports action photo and sports feature photo. He was awarded second place recognition in the sports feature, illustrations and sports feature photo categories. Glover received honorable mention awards for sports deadline reporting, sports non-deadline reporting, sports feature, illustrations and sports action photo.

Times Managing Editor Bobby Mathews also received honors including the top honor of sports sweepstakes for his work with The Messenger as sports editor. Mathews also received a first place award for sports feature writingand a second place honor in sports deadline reporting.