The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News picked up seven awards Feb. 8 during the Iowa Newspaper Association's Better Newspaper Contests.

The newspaper won first place in five categories: Best Ad Featuring Miscellaneous, Best Advertising Idea for a Community Promotion or Event, Best Feature Page, Best Newspaper Website and Best Continuing Coverage. News editor Nick Pedley took second place honors for Excellence in Editorial Writing and third place in the Master Columnist category.

The Sentinel-News is published by The Press, Inc., of Ocheyedan, which is owned by Arlyn Pedley and Jan Reiste Pedley. The couple also owns and publishes the Ocheyedan Press-Melvin News.

This year's competition was judged by the Illinois Press Association. Approximately 2,900 entries in dozens of categories were judged by class, based on circulation. Both the Press-News and Sentinel-News compete in Weekly Class I (circulation under 755 subscribers).

Several other northwest Iowa newspapers received awards for their work during the contest. The Iowa Falls Times Citizen was named Newspaper of the Year, which goes to the newspaper that accrues the most award points during the competition.