The Daily Iberian received 16 awards in Division II, including seven first-place honors, in the Louisiana Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest Awards.

“I could not be prouder of our editorial staff,” Publisher Christina Pierce said. “For such a small staff to win 16 awards is truly extraordinary.”

Pierce took top honors in the Best Regular Columnist (Sam Hanna Award) category for her columns on newspapers striving to inform the public and an act of kindness that she and her family received.

News reporter Dwayne Fatherree won first place in the Best Investigative Reporting (Gibbs Adams Award) for his three-part series on the state of the New Iberia Police Department six months after returning to the streets.

Newsroom editor and former sports editor Chris Landry took first place in Best Sports Column category for two columns on LSU sports — one about the suspension of three players in a two-week period and the transfer of two of four quarterbacks on the roster before the start of fall camp and the other about the different manners in which the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LSU and Southeastern Louisiana conducted searches for new head football coaches.

Former managing editor Raymond Partsch III claimed first place in the Best Feature category for his story on the lengthy political career of Louisiana Speaker of the House Taylor Barras of New Iberia.

Former news reporter Danny Fenster won first place in the Best News Story category for a feature on the families of murder victims still looking for closure years after losing their loved ones to violence.

The Daily Iberian took first place in Best Money Making Idea category for its Best of the Teche ceremony-special sections, and first place in the Community Service category for its Teche Growth special section.

In the Best Front Page category, Partsch earned third-place honors while former newsroom editor and longtime outdoors editor Don Shoopman took home second place honors.

Partsch also took third place in Best Sports Story category for his feature on Erath High baseball player Mason Granger playing to honor his late brother, and Shoopman took third place in the Best Headline category.

News Reporter Corey Vaughn received second-place honors in the Best Breaking News category.

Advertising Director Karla Borde took home two awards as she earned third place honors in the Multiple Advertiser Page category, and second place honors in the Best Online Advertising Campaign category.

The Daily Iberian also picked up second place honors for Best Overall Website, and received second place honors in the General Excellence category.