One of my brother Devin’s newspapers, the Carterville Courier, just walked away with 7 total First place awards in this year’s Southern Illinois Editorial Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest and won 11 awards total.

First place — Best Local Sports Coverage, Photography, Best Local News Coverage, Editorial Page, Design, General Excellence, Best Photo Story, Max Bittle

Second place — News Photo, Max Bittle / Sports Photo, Max Bittle /

Third place — News Photo, Max Bittle / News Photo, Devin Miller / Best Photo Story, Max Bittle, Greg Padesky and Devin Miller

Honorable mention — Best Education Story, Burke Wasson / Sports Photo, Roger Darrigrand / Sports Photo, Devin Miller

And then there’s the rest of it from a press release:

General Excellence awards go to 4 newspapers

Four newspapers won prestigious General Excellence awards in the Southern Illinois Editorial Association’s (SIEA) 2005 Better Newspaper Contest today (April 22). About 100 member newspapers belong to the more than 100-year-old SIEA.

The State Journal-Register of Springfield and The Register-News of Mount Vernon took top honors in best large and small daily divisions, respectively. The Woodford County Journal of Eureka won best large weekly. The Courier of Carterville took best small weekly.

General Excellence prizes recognize newspapers in four circulation divisions for work published on two randomly selected dates. All but large dailies compete for awards in six additional categories — from best local news to advertising excellence. Large dailies vie only for General Excellence citations.

In addition to its award for overall excellence, the Carterville Courier snared five blue ribbons — more than any other publication. It took firsts in local news, newspaper design, best use of photography, best editorial page and best local sports coverage.

Way to go, kid.