The Rome News-Tribune won 15 awards, including eight first-place honors, in the Georgia Press Association’s Advertising Contest.

Plus a Riverside Automotive Group ad was also named “Ad Idea of the Year” among daily newspapers.

First-place awards — listed by advertiser and category — were:

Read, Martin & Slickman, Service/Institutional; Voila!, Home Furnishings and Appliances; Riverside Automotive group, Motor Vehicles-Color; Alex Boutique, Small Page Ad; Mel & Mimi, Apparel, Jewelry & Accessories; Plantation at Horseleg, Full Color; Sassafras Grille, Food; Inspiration Point Salon, Miscellaneous.

Second place ads included:

Faces and Places in West Rome, Signature Page; Progress Edition, Special Section; Lavender Mountain Hardware and Garden, Miscellaneous; Riverside Auto Group, Motor Vehicle Color; Past Times, Non-Traditional; and Rome News-Tribune Classi­fieds, Classified Section/Page.

“Our ad composing department along with our advertising consultants are all extremely talented individuals who are working hard every day to produce the very best advertising and marketing solutions in Rome and Floyd County,” said Mike Schuttinga, Rome News-Tribune advertising director. “We are working hard for our business partners, no matter what size their business is, to produce quality advertising because today’s economic environment demands it. It comes down to the fact that great advertising produces results for our advertisers, and our staff is meeting these challenges every day.”

Two other News Publishing Company newspapers also garnered GPA honors. The Calhoun Times won first place in its division for Faces of Progress in the special section category. Second-place awards were Echota Pet Rescue for Service/Institutional and ReMax Allie Real Estate-Color.

The Catoosa County News won second place for its North Georgia’s Real Estate Agents ad in Real Estate Color.

“We are very proud of the efforts that all of our employees put into making this such a great section year after year,” said Billy Steele, advertising manager for NPCO’s northern newspapers. “We will strive to continue to make our heritage section something that everyone in the community looks forward to.”