The Suffolk News-Herald and Suffolk Living magazine captured a total of 19 awards during the Virginia Press Association’s annual conference in Richmond.

Three newsroom staff members and the staff as a whole earned a total of eight first-place honors in the association’s 2013 News/Editorial and Advertising Contest.

The Suffolk News-Herald competes in the Daily 1 division, which encompasses 12 of Virginia’s small daily newspapers. Suffolk Living magazine competes in the Specialty Publications division, which encompasses a variety of magazines and other publications around the commonwealth.

“It’s gratifying to receive this recognition from our journalistic peers,” Publisher Steve Stewart said. “It reinforces the daily affirmation we get from the tens of thousands of loyal readers who pick up our newspaper and read it.”

The newspaper and its staffers won awards in the following categories:

• First place: Editorial pages (Staff)
• First place: Special sections or special editions (Staff-Strides 2013)
• First place: Multimedia sports report (Titus Mohler and Res Spears)
• First place: Business and financial writing (Tracy Agnew)
• First place: Column writing (Res Spears)
• First place: Editorial writing (Res Spears)
• First place: Feature writing portfolio (Matthew A. Ward)
• Second place: Breaking news writing (Tracy Agnew)
• Second place: Column writing (Steve Stewart)
• Third place: Front page (Staff)
• Third place: Special sections or special editions (Staff-Planters Peanuts 100th Anniversary)
• Third place: Breaking news writing (Res Spears)
• Third place: Feature story writing (Matthew A. Ward)
• Third place: Feature writing portfolio (Res Spears)
• Third place: Health, science and environmental writing (Matthew A. Ward)
• Third place: Investigative reporting (Matthew A. Ward)

Suffolk Living magazine and its staffers won awards in the following categories:

• First place: Pictorial photo (Res Spears)
• Third place: Arts writing (Tracy Agnew)
• Third place: Feature writing portfolio (Res Spears)