Although the awards banquets were held in the Valley, a U-Haul trailer may have been helpful in bringing back all the awards collected this past weekend by The Times and its staffers.

The National Newspaper Association held its annual convention and trade show in Phoenix in conjunction with the Arizona Newspapers Association’s annual convention.

Since both associations held their banquets on the same day, coupled with both advertising and editorial contests, the list of awards won by the staff was quite lengthy.

All told, the newspaper and its personnel collected 22 national and state awards.

“This is by far the largest number of awards we’ve received in a single year,” said Publisher L. Alan Cruikshank.

“I’m quite proud of my staff and its accomplishments.”

In addition, Cruikshank was honored with a prestigious national award at the NNA banquet (see separate story).

Editor Mike Scharnow and reporters Bob Burns and Ryan Winslett each received honorable mention awards from the NNA for stories they wrote (see separate list of all awards received).

The Times received third place in “general excellence” among newspapers in its circulation category from the ANA as part of its annual Better Newspapers Contest.

It received two first- place “department” editorial awards, one second-place award and three third-place department awards.

The second-place award went to the firm’s website, which was revamped earlier this year by Duke Kirkendoll, webmaster, and the rest of the editorial staff.

Winslett received two individual first-place awards for his writing and photography, and two third-place honors, one for a sports feature and one for his overall sports coverage of high school action.

Burns received a second-place certificate in the best news photograph category for his picture of a burning fake cactus that serves as a cell phone tower.

The advertising department received a grand total of eight awards, believed to be the highest annual total ever received by staff from the advertising contest.

The classified and public notice sections were named best in Arizona, while the HOME section edited by Linda Carr McThrall earned a second-place award for best special section.

First-place awards were given for most effective use of small space (John Gibson and Jen Gentry) and best newspaper promotion ad (Kip Kirkendoll and Pam Small).

Brent Cruikshank, Gibson, Gentry and Small also were recognized with one second-place and two third-place awards as well.

“While the individual awards are always nice, I was most proud of the various departmental editorial awards we won,” said Scharnow.

“This reflects well on our entire newspaper and how it comes together each week.

“It’s definitely a group effort, and everyone plays an important role so we can be recognized by our peers like this.

“It’s our honor to serve the community of Fountain Hills and give our readers a quality publication week in and week out.”