PORT ORCHARD — The Port Orchard Independent was a winner of 15 awards at the 2018 Better Newspaper Contest, sponsored by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association at its annual meeting Oct. 11-13 in Yakima.

The Sound Publishing Company newspaper was the recipient of 14 awards in editorial divisions and one award in the special sections division. Judges from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association evaluated 1,954 entries from 62 newspapers in Washington state. The Independent competed in the newspaper circulation group with a distribution of at least 12,501 copies.

Bob Smith, the editor of the Independent and Kitsap News Group regional editor, won 14 awards, including five first-place awards in the following categories: Election Story; Comprehensive Coverage, Single Writer; General Feature Story, Short; Personality Profile, Short; and Art Review.

Smith also placed third in the WNPA’s state Feature Writer of the Year competition. He took first place in the category last year and third in 2016.

In the special sections division for newspapers of at least 5,001 copies distributed, Donna Etchey and Bryon Kempf of Kitsap News Group took first place for the yearly publication “Discover Kitsap.”

Here are Smith’s news entries that won awards:

First place:

Election Story: “Patty Lent concedes”; Comprehensive Coverage, Single Writer: “Family members perish in fire”; General Features Story, Short: “Nimitz returns home”; Personality Profile, Short: “‘Scrubbies Lady’ feted”; and Art Review: “Year-end album winners.”

Second place:

Environmental Story: “Volunteers harvest spuds for food bank”; Government Story: “Mayor seeking new buyers”; Photo Color Pictorial: “Waterfront carnival; and Color Photo Essay: “A Nimitz homecoming.”

Third place:

2018 Feature Writer of the Year; Social Issue Story: “Protestors oppose Trident missiles”; Personality Profile, Short: “Bryan Petro: ‘A gentle soul’”; Editorial: “Farewell to Bryan Petro”; and Editorial Pages: Port Orchard Independent edited and designed by Bob Smith.