The Nashville Ledger won seven first-place awards Friday in the Tennessee Press Association’s 2021 newspaper contest sponsored by the University of Tennessee.

“We had nine writers contribute to first-place awards in Nashville and another five in Knoxville, which demonstrates how many talented writers we have and how fortunate we are to have them,” said Lyle Graves, associate publisher/executive editor for the Nashville Ledger, Knoxville and Hamilton County Herald. “They do a wonderful job, and I’m proud of their accomplishments.

The Nashville Ledger won in its division for:

• Best Education Reporting (Kathy Carlson, Hollie Deese)

• Best Business Coverage (Catherine Mayhew, Tom Wood, Joe Morris, Deese

• Local Features (Whitney Diller, Deese)

• Best Single feature (Mayhew) for her look at how parents discuss racism with their nonwhite children

• Best Single Editorial (Joe Rogers) “Twisting religion to fit argument against refugees”

• Coronavirus News Coverage (Tim Ghianni, Carlson, Deese, Mayhew)

• Coronavirus Features Coverage (Nicki Wood, Mayhew, Diller, Deese, Morris, Ghianni)

Terry McCormick and Wood contributed to second place in the Best Sports Writing category.

Deese, Carlson and Mayhew helped the Ledger to third place in Public Service. Mike Hopey and Deese finished third in Best Special Issue or Section, and Rogers finished third in Best Single Editorial.

The Knoxville Ledger received eight top finishes in its division:

• Best Education Reporting (Kylie Hubbard, Nancy Henderson, Wood, Deese)

• Best Business Coverage (Hubbard, Henderson, Morris)

• Best Sports Writing (Rhiannon Potkey) “College football embracing BLM anger”

• Local Features (Dan Fleser, Henderson, Hubbard)

• Best Single Feature (Henderson) “Boys club never stood a chance,” a profile of Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee

• Headline Writing (Lyle Graves) “Big fear kills Big Ears while SEC plays on”

• Public Service (Henderson, Potkey)

• Coronavirus Features Coverage (Fleser, Henderson)

Hopey took second place for Best Graphics and/or Illustrations, as did Potkey for Best Sports Coverage.

The Hamilton County Herald finished second in its division for Best Business Coverage and Make-up and Design, and took a third for Coronavirus News Coverage.