The Orion, Chico State’s independent student-run news source, captured two first place and two second place awards in a statewide newspaper awards competition.

The winners for the 2013 California Newspaper Publishers Association’s annual contest, the Better Newspapers Contest, were awarded Saturday in San Jose at the association’s annual convention.

The Orion won first place General Excellence for its newspaper through the contest. The newspaper competed against four-year colleges statewide.

Individual awards include:

• First place sports story awarded to Nick Woodard, assistant sports editor and former staff writer
• Second place feature story awarded to Jessica Barber, public relations director and former features editor
• Second place sports photo awarded to Logan Missner, former Orion photographer

The Orion had three other entries that reached the finals, meaning they finished in third or fourth place.

The Orion can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.