Alexandria Times staff received nine awards from the Virginia Press Association awards banquet held Saturday night at the Omni in Charlottesville. The awards total included five first place finishes, one second place and three third place awards.

In addition, Times Art Director Jessica Kim won first place overall for advertising design among all of Virginia’s weekly papers for work completed in 2023. Kim also received first place awards for her ad design in the medical/ healthcare, home and garden and small space ads categories. She won an additional third place award for her ad in the lifestyles category.

Freelance feature writer Michelle Ruiz won first place in the feature writing category for her story about the adventures of Alexandria resident Ethan Bond. The combined Times team of Kim, along with freelance writer Kaitlin Murphy and former Times editor Olivia Anderson, took first place honors for specialty pages or sections for a 2023 wedding section.

Additionally, Times reporter Wafir Salih and freelancer Lexie Jordan garnered a second place award for their investigative story about the rodent and bedbug infested conditions Afghan refugees were encountering after their resettlement in Alexandria. Times publisher and executive editor Denise Dunbar won a third place award for editorial writing, while Times staff took another third place award home for the Oct. 12, 2023, City Creatives section on artists and musicians in our city.

-Times staff