For the fourth year in a row, the Society of Professional Journalists named The Hatchet the best all-around non-daily newspaper in the mid-Atlantic region.

At the organization’s annual award conference Saturday in Richmond, Va., Hatchet staffers also won 17 additional Mark of Excellence awards, including 10 first places. The Hatchet is part of SPJ’s Region 2, which includes D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware and Virginia.

“I don’t think The Hatchet has ever won this many SPJ awards before,” said Caitlin Carroll, Hatchet editor in chief. “We placed in nearly every category available for newspapers, which really speaks to not only how hard we work, but how well-rounded the newspaper is. While awards certainly aren’t the only way to measure success, I think we are all really pleased to receive this much recognition. ”

First-place winners were Brandon Butler and Ryan Holeywell for general news reporting; Andrew Siddons for general column writing; Jake Sherman for sports column writing and online sports reporting; Ben Solomon for breaking news photography, general news photography and sports photography; and Nick Gingold and Ben Solomon for feature photography.

The Hatchet staff also won a first-place award for best student magazine for the basketball magazine produced last year. This is the first time The Hatchet has won an SPJ award for a magazine.

First-place winners are automatically entered in the national competition where they will face the winners from the 12 other SPJ regions. The organization will announce the national award winners in mid-May. In 2004, The Hatchet won the best non-daily newspaper in the nation.