The Southeast Missourian newspaper was honored Friday with 15 awards by the National Newspaper Association. The awards were presented at the NNA convention in Nashville, Tenn.

Included in the recognition were three first-place awards, five second-place honors, two third-place awards, and five honorable mentions.

The awards earn the newspaper a second-place finish in general excellence among all daily newspapers above 10,000 circulation that entered. The paper was praised for strong local news coverage with good layout and reproduction. Strong editorial pages, home pages and sports coverage were also commended.

Mark Bliss won a first-place award for his humorous column that appears each Sunday in the Southeast Missourian. Judges said Bliss' column is "well written, a humorous tale that any parent can relate with. Clever presentation done in a light, breezy style that is enjoyable to read."

The newspaper's coverage of business and economic news was also honored with first-place recognition. Key to the award was Ray Owen's weekly business coverage in the Monday editions. The Missourian's Progress edition, which focuses on business and industrial progress, was also praised for its "excellent and lively" writing. Judges said the Missourian offers readers "solid, deep, consistent mix of business news.... Paper shows steady commitment to business coverage."

It marks the second year in a row that the Missourian was honored with a first-place in business coverage.

The newspaper also received first-place honors for Best Coverage of Literacy. The Tuesday learning page, the yearly YELL effort, Newspapers in Education, and daily coverage of education issues all combined to earn the award. Judges said of the Missourian's entry: "This is what this category is about -- doing something about a problem and keeping on doing it. Terrific individual stories in a terrific, sustained effort to fight illiteracy and improve literacy."

Other awards included:

-- Second place for typography. The judges complimented the Missourian for "good layout throughout the paper. Another nice-looking newspaper. A very close runner up to No. 1."

-- Second place for Best Feature Story. Heidi Nieland's Lifestyle story on "Living with Aids" was praised by the judge as humanizing a somewhat overdone topic, bringing new, complex information in simple terms and leaving readers better informed.

-- Second place for Best Coverage of Health-Related Issues: Judges said the Missourian entry ran a close second to the first-place selection. The Saturday health page and other articles in the regular paper were submitted. Judges said the paper's health coverage offered "first-rate features and stories presented beautifully. Consistent attention shown to good coverage of an important subject -- health care."

-- Second place for Best Sports Column. Marty Mishow's column earned this comment from judges: "Normally I am not nuts about responding to letters to the editor. However, the subject here was the exception to the rule. The forum you chose was the right one. Your coupling of facts and feelings brought into perspective the meaning of this award."

-- Third place in Best Investigative or In Depth Story or Series. The Missourian submitted a series of articles by Peggy Scott on problems in the Cape Girardeau public schools. Judges called the articles a "concise account of public school system's failure to practice sound financial management. Key issues all thoroughly researched." Judges said the reports did an "excellent job of taking a vast amount of material and making it pertinent and informative."

-- Third place in Best use of Color. Judges complimented the overall use of color on front pages and sharp sports photos and Arts & Leisure section photos as highlights in this entry. Southeast Missourian photographers Fred Lynch, Don Shrubshell and Lou Peukert all contributed to the recognition.

The newspaper also won honorable mentions for Best Editorial, Best Writing, Best Family Life-Living Pages, Agriculture News and Best Use of Photographs.

The contest judged newspaper entries from 1995.

The NNA is the oldest and largest national newspaper association in the United States. It dates to 1885 and has more than 4,600 member newspapers. Total circulation for all members is more than 33 million. Membership includes most of the weekly and more than one-third of all dailies in the United States.