JOHN DAY — The Blue Mountain Eagle brought home 15 awards from the annual Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, including seven first-place plaques.

The awards were handed out at the state press association’s annual conference, held July 18-19 at Eagle Crest Resort near Redmond, where the Eagle was competing against other ONPA-member newspapers of similar size.

Reporter Justin Davis earned top honors in three categories: best government coverage for “Resignations, Recriminations,” a story about a tumultuous meeting of the John Day City Council; best sports story for “Lady Pro Soccer Seeks to Establish Tradition,” about Grant Union High School’s fledgeling girls soccer team; and best local column for “Sporting GC,” his take on the local prep sports scene.

Reporter Neil Nisperos collected a pair of first-place awards. Nisperos won the best general feature story category with “Nightmare on Main Street,” about a combination pub crawl and Halloween costume contest in John Day, and best personality feature story with “The Accidental Barber,” a profile of barbershop owner Chauncy Groves.

Page designer Randy Wrighthouse took top honors for best page one design, and editor Bennett Hall finished first for best writing.

The newspaper was the runner-up in the general excellence competition and finished second in the best special section or issue category for Explore Grant County, the Eagle’s magazine-style visitors guide.

Nisperos picked up three second-place awards, for best news photo, best photo essay and best enterprise reporting.

Finally, the Eagle collected three third-place awards, one each for Davis (best educational coverage), Nisperos (best writing) and Hall (best lifestyle coverage).