The Eastern Arizona Courier was recently honored with four newspaper awards in the 2009 Better Newspapers Contest.

The contest was presented jointly by the Arizona Newspapers Association and the Arizona Associated Press Managing Editors on Oct. 10 at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Arizona State University.

A total of 1,155 entries from 54 newspapers across the state were entered in this year's contest. The Courier was awarded four awards in its division of non-daily newspapers with a circulation between 3,500 and 10,000. For the second year in a row, the paper received a first-place plaque for Reporting & News Writing Excellence. It also received second place in Editorial Page Excellence and third place in Departmental News & Copy Editing Excellence. Courier Assistant Editor Jon Johnson received a third-place award in Investigative Reporting for his series on former Eastern Arizona College's basketball coach Tim Parmeter. The award marks the second year in a row Johnson has been recognized in the competition.

Judges commented on the entries and described the Courier as being well written with balanced stories. A judge described Johnson's articles as having "done an excellent job of providing a chronology of a complex case (and being) well written."

In the category of Reporting and News Writing Excellence a judge wrote, "Nice concise, balanced stories that present all sides. Good reporting work."

In the category of Editorial Page Excellence a judge wrote, "Nice touches (in) 'Our View' commentaries, diverse topics in letters (and) cartoons were smart (and) clever. . ."

The East Valley Tribune and Payson Roundup received the Arizona Newspaper of the Year in their circulation divisions.