The Whitefish Pilot picked up a dozen awards in the 2009 Montana Better Newspaper Contest organized by the Montana Newspaper Association.

The New Mexico Press Association judged the contest this year. The Pilot falls in the Division II Weeklies category for newspapers with distribution less than 3,000.

Photographer-sportswriter Matt Baldwin won three first-place awards, one for his feature story on a reunion for The Palm disco, and another for a photo of a mountain goat at the Hidden Lake Overlook in Glacier National Park.

Baldwin took first and second place in the feature photo category, and second place and honorable mention in the sports picture category.

He also took third for his sports feature story, and since Baldwin lays out the sports page, he should get the credit for taking second place for best sport page.

Editor Richard Hanners took first place for environmental and natural resource writing for his coverage of the BNSF Railway Superfund site.

Hanners also got honorable mention for investigative reporting for his story about a local man who flipped real estate.

Former photographer-sportswriter David Erickson took second place for personality feature story.

The Pilot also took third place for best front page.