The Vicksburg Post advertising department is the winner of 14 awards from the statewide Mississippi Press Association.

The awards, including four first place honors in competition with newspapers of similar circulation across the state, were announced Saturday during the MPA’s annual mid-winter conference in Jackson.

“I think this again is an indication of the reach that this newspaper has for our advertisers and the quality produced by our staff,” said publisher Pat Cashman.

“These are judged by out-of-state peers and it’s exceptional to be judged so highly by others in our business,” he said.

Winners of first-place awards were: creative services representative Quin Geary and retail saleswoman Angela Ross in the Service category for a Mothers Day ad placed by the Center for Pregnancy Choices; creative services director David Girard in the Institutional category for an entry advertising Vicksburg Catholic School; to Girard and sales rep Sheila Mantz for an ad in the Service category for United Rehab Associates. For the same advertisement, Girard and Mantz took a first place in the Magazine category.

Winning second-place awards were: Geary and Ross in the Retail Black & White category; retail saleswoman Janet Rantisi in the Grocery or Restaurant Black & White category; Girard and Rantisi in the Magazine category; Girard and Mantz in the Retail category; and Geary in the Theme Page category.

Third-place awards went to: the advertising staff in the Editorial Special Section category; Geary and advertising director Barney Partridge in the Editorial House Ad category; Girard and Mantz in Retail Advertising; and Rantisi and Geary in Grocery or Restaurant Color category.

In addition, the advertising department received a third-place award in the Advertising Excellence category for daily newspapers of about the same size.

The Mississippi Press Association is the trade group for more than 120 newspapers in the state.

This year’s president of the organization is Jimmy Clark, general manager of The Vicksburg Post.