The Roanoke Times and roanoke.com earned 30 writing, design, photography and online awards Saturday night at the Virginia Press Association's annual meeting at Hotel Roanoke.

The competition was fierce. The newspaper competes against the biggest papers in the state, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot and The Washington Post.

The newsroom's seven first-place awards were: Ralph Berrier, feature writing portfolio; Jeanna Duerscherl, photo-illustration of All-Timesland volleyball player MacKenzie Tyree; Laurence Hammack, government writing portfolio; David Harrison, education writing portfolio; Dan Radmacher, column writing; Ryan Tipps, headline writing; and newspaper sports staff, college football special section.

The newsroom's 14 second-place awards were: Mason Adams, government writing portfolio; Nona Nelson, personal service writing for her Happy Wag column; Stephanie Klein-Davis, general news photo of a grieving mother; Jared Soares, sports feature photo for fans reacting at the Virginia Tech-Nebraska football game; Kyle Green, video of a father and son hunting; Beth Macy, business writing portfolio; Lindsey Nair, column writing; Luanne Truad, editorial writing; Chris Zaluski, Mike Gangloff, Mike Allen and Laurence Hammack, multimedia news reporting on heroin rings in Roanoke; Chris Zaluski, Jordan Fifer, Meg Martin, Robert Anderson and Steve Hemphill, multimedia sports reporting for VarsityCast; newsroom staff, design and content of lifestyle pages; newsroom staff, design and content of specialty sections (Inside Out); newsroom staff, design and content of business pages; and newsroom staff, front page design.

The newsroom's nine third-place awards were: Grant Jedlinsky, illustrations; Jeanna Duerscherl, feature photo of a foot bath; Stephanie Klein-Davis, photo-illustration of gourmet salts; Kyle Green, sports feature photo of a wrestler celebrating a win; Christian Trejbal, editorial writing; Chris Zaluski, video of a Roanoke musician inspired by his grandfather; Beth Macy, feature writing portfolio; Greg Esposito, Dan Casey, Sharla Bardin, Matt Chittum, Tonia Moxley and Kevin Kittredge, in-depth reporting for Under 21 series, which examined whether states should consider lowering the drinking age; and Shawna Morrison, Amanda Codispoti and Anna Mallory, breaking news writing for the coverage of a Wythe County shooting and manhunt

The newspaper's Under 21 series was also a finalist for VPA's top public service award for daily papers. The News Virginian of Waynesboro won that award for its reporting and editorials related to an economic visioning project started by the paper in fall 2008.

The Recorder of Monterey in Highland County won the VPA public service award for nondaily publications for its coverage of plans to construct a large wind-generating electric utility in the region.