ST. LOUIS -- The Southeast Missourian newspaper claimed a first-place, two second-place and two third-place awards in the annual Missouri APME News Writing Contest.

The contest drew 190 entries from 18 newspapers and was judged by newspaper staffs from Nebraska and the Journal-Sentinel. The awards were presented Friday in St. Louis at the Missouri APME annual convention.

Former staff writer Mike Wells, now working at the Columbia Daily Tribune, won first place in feature writing with "One Gun, Two Crimes," while staff writer Bob Miller took second place in the same category with "A Boy and His Dog."

Sports writer Marty Mishow won second-place honors with his spot sports article, "Skyhawks Rally Sends Southeast to OT Loss."

In the sports feature category, Miller received the third-place award for "Only Game in Town."

Wells, along with staff writers Mark Bliss and Scott Moyers, earned third place in the community affairs/public interest category for "Weed & Seed."

The awards were for the division II newspapers in cities of 15,000 to 50,000 population.

Other winners included:

Michelle Friedrich of the Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic, who won third place in feature writing.