The Rapid City Journal newsroom earned 12 awards, including six first-place finishes, in the 2008 National Newspaper Association's Better Newspapers Contest.

The Journal took first for Breaking News (staff coverage of the Central High School lockdown), Best Education Story (reporter Kayla Gahagan's reporting on bullying), and Best Health Story (reporter Heidi Bell Gease's story on the Club For Boys). Judges noted that Gahagan's story had "great interviewing leading to great writing." Judges cited Bell Gease's story for its "great details and clear writing."

The Journal was also named best in the country for its editorial pages, local news and its Web site. The Web site and its editorial pages received similar state and national honors earlier this year.

The Journal took second place for Business Reporting with Dan Daly's "Mall Madness", Bill Harlan's "Final Four of Physics" series on the Homestake Mine, and photo editor Ryan Soderlin's sports photo "Mighty Crusaders."

Journal reporter Kevin Woster received three third place awards (column writing, sports column writing and sports feature story).

The awards will be presented at the association's annual convention and trade show, Sept. 25-28, in St. Paul, Minn.