2007 Sweepstakes winners are named

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, The News & Advance of
Lynchburg, the Northern Virginia Daily of Strasburg and Richmond Magazine have
repeated as winners of the Virginia Press Association�s sweepstakes awards for
their circulation groups. The awards were presented at the association�s annual
meeting Saturday in Roanoke.

The Virginian-Pilot has won the sweepstakes award –
signifying the winning of more prizes for writing, photography, artwork,
presentation and multimedia than any other publication in the 50,000-and-over
circulation group – 23 times in the 29 years that the prize has been given.
The Pilot also has tied for the award once.

The Pilot scored 66 points in a field of eight newspapers.
There were 240 possible points in the metro daily group.

The other sweepstakes winners:

Dailies with circulation between 20,000 and 50,000 –
The News & Advance of Lynchburg, which earned 80 out of a possible 233
points in a field of eight newspapers. The News & Advance won its third
consecutive sweepstakes award.

Dailies with circulation less than 20,000 – The
Northern Virginia Daily of Strasburg, which earned 86 of a possible 226 points
in a field of nine newspapers. The Daily has won the sweepstakes in its group
in 17 of the last 20 years.

Specialty publications – Richmond Magazine with 57 out
of a possible 211 points in a field of 19 publications. Richmond Magazine has
won two consecutive sweepstakes awards.

Non-dailies with circulation greater than 14,000 – The
Fauquier Times-Democrat of Warrenton with 53 out of a possible 219 points in a
field of 25 newspapers.

Non-dailies with circulation between 7,000 and 14,000 –
The Eastern Shore News of Accomac, with 32 points out of a possible 210 points
in a field of 28 newspapers.

Non-dailies with circulation between 5,000 and 7,000 –
The Orange County Review of Orange with 32 out of a possible 173 points in a field
of 15 newspapers.

Non-dailies with circulation less than 5,000 – The
Tidewater Review of West Point with 30 out of a possible 200 points in a field
of 35 newspapers.

Each first place earns three points, each second place wins
two points and each third place earns one point. To qualify for the
sweepstakes, a publication must have won at least one point in each of the
competition�s three major areas – writing, photography/artwork and
presentation.

The VPA contest covered the 2007 calendar year. There were
147 publications participating in the contest; 114 received awards. The contest
was judged by journalists from the New Jersey Press Association.