The Augusta Chronicle, The Times of Gainesville, The Daily Citizen of Dalton and The Covington News have received story of the year honors in the 2010 Georgia Associated Press Association awards.

The awards, announced Saturday, also included photo of the year honors for The Augusta Chronicle, the Marietta Daily Journal, The Daily Citizen of Dalton and the Statesboro Herald.

AP member newspaper editors in Indiana judged the Georgia newspaper entries in four classes based on circulation.

Among the largest papers, The Augusta Chronicle won story of the year honors for "The Looper" by Scott Michaux, which also won first place for sports reporting.

In addition to story and photo awards, the Athens Banner-Herald was honored for most outstanding overall cooperation and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was honored for outstanding photo cooperation.

FULL COVINGTON NEWS AWARDS LIST

NEWSWRITING

Public Service: 2nd Place, The Covington News, Gabe Khouli, "Innovative Industrialists"; 3rd Place, The Covington News, Amber Pittman, "Tears of the Innocent."

Non-Deadline Reporting: 3rd Place, The Covington News, Gabe Khouli, "Taking It to the Streets."

Feature Writing: 3rd Place, The Covington News, Tharon Giddens, "Phantom Folklore: The Mystery of the Blue Willow Inn."

Sports: 2nd Place, The Covington News, Josh Briggs, "Reaching the Pinnacle"

Business: 1st Place, The Covington News, Gabe Khouli, "Financial Freefall"; 3rd Place, The Covington News, Gabe Khouli, "Out of Time."

Beat Reporting: 3rd Place, The Covington News, Amber Pittman, crime.

Editorial Writing: 3rd Place, The Covington News, Editorial Board, "Our Thoughts: This Dog Won't Hunt."

PHOTOS & GRAPHICS

Graphics & Illustrations: 1st Place, The Covington News, Lee Sandow, Gabe Khouli, "Roundabout Project Comes Full Circle"; 2nd Place, The Covington News, Lee Sandow, "Tax Break."

Feature Photo: 1st Place, The Covington News, Gabriel Khouli, "Television Magic"; 3rd Place, The Covington News, Brittany Thomas, "Valuable Experience."

Sports Feature Photo: 1st Place, The Covington News, Josh Briggs, "Heartbreaker";

Photo Illustration: 2nd Place, The Covington News, Brittany Thomas, "Healing The Hurt";

Portfolio: 2nd Place, The Covington News, Brittany Thomas;

STORY OF THE YEAR (selected from the first-place category winners in each class)

Class A: The Covington News, Gabe Khouli, "Financial Freefall," which also won first place for business reporting.