Award winners are (from left) Lynne Conner, Judy Harvey, Jean Lotus and Jack McCarthy.

Chronicle Media LLC earned three first-place awards at the 2016 Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards dinner, Oct. 20 at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

Earning first-place awards in the nondaily category were Bill Dwyer, Judy Harvey and Jean Lotus.

Dwyer took first in the Best General Feature category for his story titled “When rails ruled,” about the heyday of the rail system.

Judges said of the entry, “There was thorough research on many levels. The story was enhanced by the period photos and the map. Although this story could have been dry, you made it human by including commuters’ reactions to having their train line shut down abruptly as well including long term financial and environmental effects.”

Judy Harvey and staff took first place for Best Website. The judges said the website is “Pleasing to the eyes and packed with info.”

Jean Lotus earned first place in the Best News Series category for her series on the human body-parts trade.

Judges said that “The story series opened strong with a look at Linda Hayes and how she has been personally affected by the trade. Each story also did a good job providing interesting information and background.

Chronicle Media earned four other awards:

Jack McCarthy placed second for Best Design and third for Best Sports Story, “No retiring types,” about former major league umpires conducting an umpire training camp.

Lynne Conner placed third in the Best Religion Story/Owen Phelps Award category for her story titled, “Coping with grief, the unwanted holiday guest.”

Paul Sassone earned second place in the Columnist category.

The Moline Dispatch won the sweepstakes for the daily category, and the Galena Gazette won the sweepstakes for the nondaily category. Both newspapers won the sweepstakes in their respective division in 2015 as well. NINA awarded more than 125 other awards in more than 45 categories.

The banquet featured keynote speaker Dann Gire, film critic for the Daily Herald.

NINA has been serving the journalists and educators in Northern Illinois, in conjunction with the Communication Department of Northern Illinois University for 54 years.

— Chronicle Media snares 3 first-place awards in NINA contest    —