The Beachcomber brought home seven awards from the Washington Newspaper Publishers’ Association (WNPA) awards ceremony in Olympia Friday night, including the coveted General Excellence award, given to a paper for its overall journalistic quality.

The paper’s staff took second place in “Best Special Section — Tourism/Community Guide” for “Destination Vashon,” its annual guide to the Island’s many gems; judges called it “a really nice package” with stories that “were inviting.” Staff also won second place for the paper’s “Home & Garden” section.

Staff writer Susan Riemer walked away with a first-place award in business reporting for her story on a controversy over raw milk, a piece that reflected “solid reporting,” judges said. And editor Leslie Brown took third for “Best General Feature Story — Long” for her story about an autistic boy and his service dog; judges said it had “great descriptive writing.”

Designer Nance Scott and publisher Daralyn Anderson also won two advertising awards, including second place for a best community service ad for “bouquets and brickbats” and third place for the “yes for schools” ad campaign. According to one judge, the “yes for schools” campaign “was the best promotion of a ballot issue I’ve ever seen.”

The paper received third place in the General Excellence category, one of the top awards handed out by the WNPA.

The WNPA represents about 130 community newspapers in Washington state and is dedicated to helping its member papers advance editorial excellence, financial viability, professional development and a high standard of publication quality and community leadership.