The Lawrence Journal-World on Friday won 23 Suburban Newspapers of America Awards for 2007, the most in the country for the third consecutive year.

The Journal-World won 13 first-place, five second-place, and three third-place awards and two honorable mentions.

First place honors include:

¢ Thad Allender and Mike Belt: Community Service Award for “Mining’s Legacy: A Scar on Kansas,” a series of stories about the environmental impact of lead and zinc mines on residents of southeast Kansas. This award was judged among all circulation categories.

¢ Ann Gardner: Best Editorial Writing and Best Editorial Page.

¢ Cathy Hamilton: Best Column Writing for Boomer Girl Diary.

¢ J-W staff: Best Feature Series for “24 Hours in Lawrence.”

¢ Best Environmental Coverage for “What We Drink,” a series of stories written by members of Kansas University professor Rick Musser’s class, which included Journal-World reporter Erin Castaneda.

¢ Richard Gwin: Best News Photo for a photograph from a fire that killed five members of a family on New Jersey Street.

¢ Pulse Staff: Best Entertainment/Lifestyle Section, Best Non-Page One Layout and Best Young People’s Coverage.

¢ Terry Rombeck, Mindie Paget and Shanxi Upsdell: Best Coverage of Local Education/School District Issues for a series on home schooling.

¢ Best Headline.

¢ Best Sports Section.

The Journal-World was named SNA’s Newspaper of the Year in its circulation category in 2007 and 2005, and placed second in 2006.

Suburban Newspapers of America is composed of 2,000 newspapers across North America. SNA received more than 3,000 award nominations.