The Redmond Reporter staff has won three awards — including two first places — in the 2009 Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspaper Contest.

The winners for the statewide, non-daily newspaper competition were announced Oct. 2 in Olympia.

Awards went to:

Sports reporter Tim Watanabe: First place, best sports personality profile, The Ultimate Fighter. The story is about Alan Dickson, the girls’ basketball coach at The Bear Creek School, and his battles with various physical ailments, including prostate cancer.

Reporter Mary Stevens Decker: Second place, best health or medical story, Uphill Battle. The story is about a Redmond couple, Don and Shawna Graves, and their courageous journey to help their son, Cody, who suffers from a catastrophic form of epilepsy, as well as autism and mental retardation.

Former photographer Katherine Ganter: First place, best sports photo, non-action, Owls fly past Eagles. The photo depicts two soccer players from The Overlake School celebrating after scoring a goal.