The Roanoke Times captured two of the top awards at the Virginia Press Association's annual meeting Saturday night at the Hotel Roanoke.

The Times won the Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service, considered VPA's top honor, for its coverage following the shootings at Virginia Tech last April. And photographer Alan Kim was honored with the Best-In-Show photography award for his photos of rescue workers carrying Virginia Tech students out of Norris Hall on the day of the shootings.

The newspaper and its Web site, roanoke.com, captured 23 other writing, design, photography and online awards, competing against the biggest papers in the state including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot and The Washington Post.

Gregory Favre, retired vice president for news for the McClatchy Company and the former executive editor of the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, judged the community service award.

"The Roanoke Times' coverage of the tragedy at Virginia Tech was journalism at its best. At a time when not just a community, but the entire nation, was focused on those tragic events unfolding on the VPI campus, the Times supplied a lifeline to all who were wandering in the wilderness of the unknown," Favre said.

"The initial blog launched by the Times' staff was superb in the information it provided. And then day after day, the paper followed with coverage that was done with dignity and grace, never exploiting the situation."

The Times, competing in the 30,000-and-over circulation group, won the award for the eighth time since the award was created in 1947.

Kim, a photographer based in the paper's Christiansburg office, won top honors for his photograph of police, students and rescue workers at the front door of Norris Hall on April 16. The picture was one of two by Kim that made the front page on hundreds of publications around the world.

"This photo is of great historical significance," the judges wrote. "It is an incredible shot and its content trumps all other considerations."

In addition to Kim's news photo, the newspaper captured 10 other first-place awards: David Harrison, education writing portfolio; Beth Macy, health or science writing portfolio; Angela Manese-Lee, business writing portfolio; Aaron McFarling, sports column writing portfolio; Reed Williams, public safety writing portfolio; Sam Dean, general news photo of a Hegira House therapy session and sports feature photo of a basketball team celebration; Stephanie Klein-Davis, personality or portrait photo of Robert Tolliver; Andrew Svec, photo illustration of NASCAR's international reach; and Seth Gitner, Joe Eaton and David Harrison, multimedia feature reporting on teen obesity.

The paper's eight second-place awards were: Robert Anderson, sports writing portfolio; Beth Macy, feature writing portfolio; Eric Brady, personality or portrait photo of Barnie Day; Sam Dean, general news photo of a military deployment; Alan Kim, spot news photo of Virginia Tech shooting victim Kevin Sterne; Jared Soares, sports feature photo at a martial arts cage match; newspaper staff, multimedia news reporting of the Virginia Tech shootings; editorial page staff, design and content of editorial pages.

The newspaper's third place awards were: Ralph Berrier Jr., column writing portfolio; Jared Turner and Justin Cook, combination photo and story for a package on Chance Harman's family; newsroom staff, spot news writing following the Virginia Tech shootings; and newsroom staff, overall front page content and design.