The staff of the Renton Reporter has won four awards in a competition among the state’s community newspapers.

Editor Dean A. Radford won a first-place award for column writing and a second-placed award in general news photography. He submitted three columns, including one about Velda Mapelli, who was killed while walking on the Cedar River Trail. The photo showed the performer of a praise dance at the funeral for 12-year-old Alajawan Brown, who was shot to death in 2010.

Sports Reporter Adam McFadden won a third place for special sections for his 2010 Seahawks section. It’s the section’s third win.

Former staffer Celeste Gracey won a third-place award for business reporting for her story, “West Hill is full of promise; who will step up to make its economy strong?”

Last year’s disaster special section  that appeared in Reporter newspapers in South King County won a second-place award.

The competition, the Better Newspaper Contest, is put on by the Washington Newspapers Publishers Association. This year it drew about 2,500 entries from 78 mostly weekly community newspapers across the state.