The South Whidbey Record has again earned honors in the Suburban Newspapers of America newspaper contest.

The Record won a first-place award for “best front page” in the 2009 competition. Winners were announced Friday.

The annual contest includes thousands of entries from member newspapers across the United States and Canada, and the Record competed against other non-daily newspapers of the same size and larger.

Awards for “best front page” are based on news writing, layout, photos, design, graphics, the use of headlines and other considerations.

The contest was judged by the Journalism Department faculty of Loyola University Chicago, School of Communication.

The first-place award was based on a review of copies of the Record from three separate months.

“This award is a reminder of the hard work of our newsroom over the past year, but also a challenge for continued excellence that we owe our readers,” said Record editor Brian Kelly.

It’s the second time in three years that the newspaper has won first place for its front pages in the North America contest. The Record has also consistently won top awards for page design in Washington state newspaper competitions in recent years.

This year’s awards will be presented at the Suburban Newspapers of America’s fall conference for publishers in Kansas City, Mo.