MARKSVILLE – L’Observateur received 20 awards, including four first places, in the Louisiana Press Association’s 2010 Better Newspaper Competition.

Awards were presented Saturday at the association’s annual convention, held this year in Marksville.

L’Observateur competed in the LPA’s Division 5, which includes all newspapers in the state published two to four times per week.

The newspaper won first place in the Best Front Page category; reporter Robin Shannon won a first place in the Best Feature Story category for a story on a whiskey bottle finally opened by a local family when the Saints won the Super Bowl; and Sports Editor Ryan Arena won two first-place awards, for Best Sports Column and Best Sports Story (a feature on former Reserve Christian basketball star Tweety Carter).

Other awards were:

• Best Feature Story – David Vitrano, second place for a story on memories of the Mother’s Day bus crash and honorable mention for a story on Bertha Bell; and Robin Shannon, honorable mention for a story on the Young Marines program.

• Best News Story – honorable mention, Robin Shannon, on the death and homecoming of Lt. Col. Joseph Anthony Lucia III.

• Best Sports Story – Ryan Arena, second place for a story on Timmy and Ronnie Byrd.

• Best Lifestyle Coverage – third place.

• Best News Coverage – third place.

• Best Continuing Coverage of a Single News Event – Robin Shannon and David Vitrano, for coverage of the murder of 15-year-old Taylor Adams.

• Best Headline – Ryan Arena, second place.

• Best News/Feature Photo, honorable mention – Robin Shannon.

• Best Sports Photo – honorable mention, Chris Cox.

• Best Photo Package – second place, Robin Shannon and Sandy Cunningham, for coverage of the BP Oil Spill’s effects in Plaquemines Parish; and honorable mention, Chris Cox, for a package on Riverside’s 2010 basketball championship.

• Community Service/Service to Readers – third place for the paper’s Christmas Veteran’s Home donation program.

• General Excellence – third place.

• Best Overall Website, honorable mention.