The Acorn Newspapers took home four first-place and two second-place awards at the California Newspaper Publishers Association 2010 Better Newspapers Contest April 16 in Los Angeles. The CNPA is a nonprofit trade association representing the daily and weekly newspapers of California.

Acorn managing editor John Loesing won first place for his series of editorials in August 2010 about taxpayers being on the hook for large public service benefit packages titled “Local salaries and benefits under scrutiny” and “Water district salaries balloon.”

Reporter Carissa Marsh gave the Simi Valley Acorn a first-place prize in the weekly newspaper Feature Story category for “Cameron’s story: Growing up with a broken heart.” Marsh wrote about a 5-month-old boy, Cameron Nash, who was born with a serious heart defect—and received the heartwarming support of his community.

“Stories that hit home with the community are what readers appreciate about The Acorn Newspapers,” Loesing said. The publication continued its track record of CNPA success in photography with two first-place prizes and two second-place prizes (see below).

“The Acorn is committed to covering those stories and photo opportunities that affect our readers the most,” publisher Jim Rule said. “It is why our papers continue to be successful.”

The Acorn Newspapers also received these honorable mentions for placing in the top 10 percent of the peer voting: Camarillo Acorn: Feature Photo (Richard Gillard); Moorpark Acorn: Editorial Comment (“Honesty in law enforcement an absolute necessity” by Kyle Jorrey); Thousand Oaks Acorn: Columns (Stephen Dorman) and Breaking News Photo (Richard Gillard); and The Acorn: Sports Photo (Wendy Pierro), Editorial Comment (“Join public service, retire rich” by John Loesing) and Sports Story (“Despising England just became a bit more difficult” by Stephen Dorman).

Contest entries were submitted by more than 170 daily and weekly newspapers in California.