NEW ORLEANS — L’OBSERVATEUR received 12 awards, including five first places, in the Louisiana Press Association’s 135th Annual Convention, held in conjunction with the Mississippi Press Association June 20 at The Loews Hotel in New Orleans.

The newspaper captured first place for best front page for its June 7, 2014-edition, and reporter Monique Roth won a first place plaque for best feature story in the same edition, which included a spotlight portrait of O’Neil Boe on the 70th anniversary of when he jumped from a military airplane as part of the D-Day invasion.

Roth also won first place for best news story for her coverage July 2, 2014, of four arrests made at a massage parlor that was suspected of serving as a front for prostitution in LaPlace.

L’Observateur publisher Stephen Hemelt won first place for best regular column, “Sam Hanna Award,” for an Aug. 9 piece, “Swim team’s story impacts entire community,” following the Piranha Swim Team’s removal from the River Parish Swim League.

Former sports editor Ryan Arena won best sports column for entries submitted Nov. 22 and Dec. 6 that tackled the tragic shooting death of West St. John High coach Juan Joseph and the removal of East St. John football coach Phillip Banko, respectively.

Roth closed out the newspaper’s first place, award-winning coverage when she was recognized for “best continuing coverage of a single news event” for her work spotlighting the announcement and criminal investigation that resulted from the Aug. 27 announcement that water taken in a sample from St. John the Baptist Parish Water District 1 tested positive for Naegleria fowleri amoeba, commonly known as the “brain-eating” amoeba.

Other awards were:

• Best feature story — Monique Roth, second place for a story on Destrehan’s Devon Walker, who graduated from Tulane following a spinal cord-injury while playing football; and Stephen Hemelt, third place for “Holding Down the Block.”

• Best breaking news story — Stephen Hemelt, second place for “Man dies after struggle with deputies,” and Monique Roth, third place for her coverage of St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office Deputy Nolan Anderson’s shooting death by fellow deputies.

• Best news story — Monique Roth, second place for “More than a foot of rain floods St. James” and third place for “Crime & Punishment,” her reporting on Errol Victor Sr.’s second-degree murder conviction and Tonya Victor’s manslaughter conviction last year following the death of 8-year-old M.L. Lloyd III.