Suburban Newspapers of America on Monday recognized www.ljworld.com as Best Local Community Website for 2007.

The site, which includes Lawrence Journal-World content and is produced by The World Company, was one of four first-place winners in the category reserved for best community Web sites of the year.

The site also took second place in the newspaper’s circulation division for Best Overall Local News Site.

The contest’s judge lauded ljworld.com for its “clean” presentation, which set it apart from others that also feature news updates, video podcasts and other content.

“I don’t want to work when I read a newspaper online,” the judge said. “The Lawrence site didn’t make me. Nice work.”

Another site created by The World Company, www.lawrence.com, won first place for Best Site Architecture and Overall Design.

“We are fortunate to have a lot of great people, in our Web operations and in our news and advertising departments, who take great pride in their personal work and in the collective results of our print, television and online means of connecting with the community,” said Ralph Gage, chief operating officer of The World Company. “We’re extremely proud that they have been recognized by SNA with these well-deserved honors.”

The contest was open to the more than 2,000 suburban and community newspapers in North America that are members of Suburban Newspapers of America, a nonprofit trade association based in Traverse City, Mich.