The Times Journal's advertising staff brought home numerous awards at last week's annual Kentucky Press Association Advertising Banquet at Western Kentucky University, including the first place honor in "weekly class 2" for furniture advertising.

The staff also received four second place awards for automotive, clothing store, special sections and best use of color and two third place awards for both furniture and best ad series.

Production Manager Renee' Daffron said she was pleased with how this year's banquet turned out.

"We were definitely pleased in the awards we brought home to the Times Journal," Daffron said. "We will strive to continue to work with our many advertisers to make the best product possible. It is an honor to serve them, the awards we receive for doing so is just icing on the cake."

Advertising Manager Stephanie Smith said she was very proud of the awards from the Kentucky Press Association.

"Anytime you compete against the competition we annually face it is a great feeling to bring home some awards," Smith said. "It lets our advertisers as well as our readers know that the Times Journal, and now the Russell County News-Register, is the only place to go for high quality print advertising."

Derek Aaron, the newspaper's editor, said he was extremely pleased with the recognition and praised the newspaper's staff for their efforts and expertise in advertising.

"Advertising and graphic design is the lifeblood of the newspaper," Aaron said. "Without those two key ingredients there is no newspaper. We are so privileged to have professionals that care about our finished product and strive to make it as beneficial as we can to both advertisers and readers. Both Stephanie and Renee' are experts in their field and when they work together we maximize our potential."