The Port Orchard Independent, a part of Sound Publishing, won nine awards during last week’s Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2013 Better Newspaper Contest.

Senior reporter and sports editor Chris Chancellor, who was a Sportswriter of the Year Finalist among all newspaper groups, received six awards.

In the Group IV Division, for publications with more than 12,751 circulation, Chancellor won first place for Best General Feature Story with his story, “Jalapenos all in a day’s work on SKTV” and took top honors in Best Personality Profile-Long in his “Parks takes a load off South Kitsap players” piece. He also placed second in Best Business Feature Story for “Genesis with a point” and third place for Business News Story with “Cash mob hits Port Orchard businesses” and in Best Personality Profile-Long in “A career of memories tucked into a classroom.”

Former staff writer Brent Cihon won first place for Best Crime and Court Story with “A tragic loss” and second in Best Business News Story for “Small liquor retailers fret about future.”

Wes Morrow won third place for Color Feature Photo with “A Joyful Sound.”

“It’s a real honor to be recognized for outstanding work by our peers in the industry”, said Sean McDonald, publisher of the Independent.

“I’m very proud of the work our staff has done over the past couple of years to continue improving the quality of the Independent and especially for Chris who has really been an asset to the paper both in his sports coverage but also for his contributions to community news and features.  It’s a pretty good indicator of talent for a sports guy to win so many non-sports news and features awards”, said McDonald

According to President Gloria Fletcher, Sound Publishing received 218 awards overall, including 75 first-place award, 72 second place, 67 third place and four finalist for news writer of the year and sports writer of the year.