BOSTON -- The Sun and its staff were honored with 10 awards, including four first-place awards, by the New England Newspaper and Press Association on Saturday night.

The awards were presented at the annual NENPA banquet at the Boston Seaport Hotel.

Judges from across the country pored over more than 3,000 entries in the New England Better Newspaper Contest, the region's largest writing, photography and multimedia contest. The Sun is in the highly competitive class of newspapers with a circulation of 30,000 or more.

The award winners are:

* Business/Economic Reporting, first place: Grant Welker, for his continuing coverage of the Market Basket family feud.

* Spot News Story, first place: Given to John Collins, Hiroko Sato, former staffers Lyle Moran and Rick Sobey, and summer intern Andy Mal, for their coverage of a July fire on Branch Street in Lowell that killed seven people.

* Right to know, first place: For a series of stories and editorials on the public's right to know and First Amendment issues. The Sun's entry included coverage of the Brame case, a fatal accident involving a Westford police officer, a secret payment given to a retiring Westford fire chief, and both stories and editorials about government limiting access to public meetings and records.

* Humor Columnist, first place: Given to Dan Phelps, for columns on Nashua schools banning tag and on the Dracut political scene.

* Crime and Courts Reporting, second place: Enterprise Editor Christopher Scott, reporters Rob Mills, Grant Welker and Lisa Redmond, and Moran, for wall-to-wall coverage of the death of Alyssa Brame in a Lowell cellblock.

* Editorial Writing, second place: Sun Editor Jim Campanini

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The Sun wins 10 awards in NENPA contest