The Chattanooga Times Free Press was the most-decorated newspaper in the state at the Tennessee Press Association journalism awards on Friday.
The newspaper also was awarded the General Excellence Award in the large newspaper category.
The Times Free Press took home 14 first-place awards, more than any other newspaper in the state, for categories ranging from feature photography and headline writing to sports, business and investigative reporting.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel received four first-place awards; the Tennessean of Nashville won three; and the Memphis Commercial Appeal received one.
The Times Free Press also received five second-place awards, two third-place awards, four fourth-place awards and one fifth-place award.
"These awards validate what we know is true about this newsroom and its commitment to excellence in journalism," said Times Free Press Editor Alison Gerber. "We have a team of outstanding, passionate journalists who every day showcase what is best about our community but also uncover its needs and challenges. We take our responsibility to serve the readers very seriously and dedicate an enormous amount of resources to that mission."
The Times Free Press has a larger staff of journalists than industry standards for a newspaper of its circulation.
Two investigative series were among the journalism recognized for excellence.
Speak No Evil, which exposed the no-snitch culture of inner-city Chattanooga, received three first-place awards, and an investigation into a lack of security that resulted in inmate deaths at Hays State Prison in Trion, Ga., received two first-place awards.
The TPA awards come on the heels of many regional and national awards the paper has received this year for excellence in journalism.
The Times Free Press was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Speak No Evil and received 10 awards in the Society of Professional Journalism's Green Eyeshade contest, a competition among newspapers in 11 Southeastern states.