EUGENE -- Mail Tribune staffers won 12 awards Friday in the annual Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspaper Contest.

Mail Tribune reporter Chris Bristol won three awards for work at the Grants Pass Daily Courier. With Howard Buck, he placed third in the business and economic reporting category for a story on the Grants Pass rural fire district. He placed third in spot news reporting for a story on an Illinois River accident and third in lifestyles writing for his part in a Y2K series.

The Tidings, competing with daily newspapers of less than 10,000 circulation, won nine awards Friday, including: inside page design, third place, Troy Heie; special section or issue, second place, "Shakespeare 1998," staff; lifestyle coverage, third place, "Swing low, swing high to the Lindy Hop," Courtney Doe; sports page, third place, Larry Berteau; news photo, third place, "Wall of memories," Denise Baratta; spot news coverage, third place, "$2.7 million cut from city budget," Jessica Smith; feature story, first place, "Lab quest...," Smith; editorial page, third place, John Enders and local column, first place, Larry Berteau.

The Press, competing with non-daily newspapers with circulation of 4,000 or fewer, won seven awards. It was named second in "general excellence" and also won: feature story, first place, "Heavenly Home," J. Cox; enterprise reporting, second place, "Crime concerns spill over," Dave Ehrhardt, and third place, "Short end of the stick shift," Valerie Martinez; local column, first place, Ehrhardt; Web site, second place, Victor Zefas; feature photo, Ehrhardt, third, "Firefighters from RR and the Evans Valley took part in burning."