DESTIN, Fla. — The Times won first place in general excellence for the fourth straight year, and the newspaper’s report on the condition of Hall County bridges took top honors for investigative reporting in the annual Georgia Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.

The Times placed first in local news coverage. Reporter Ashley Fielding won for hard news writing, and The Times’ coverage of high school football, “The Blitz,” won for best online news project.

The awards, announced Saturday at the GPA’s annual convention at the Sandestin Beach and Golf Resort in Destin, were among 30 overall won by The Times, including 13 first-place honors.

The first-place award in general excellence traditionally means a newspaper is the best of its size in the state. The Times won the award for the fourth year in a row and the fifth time in seven years.

The GPA awards celebrate the achievements of reporters, photographers, page designers and columnists in newsrooms across the state for work that was published in 2011. Journalists from newspapers in Louisiana judged the contest.

“Having a good newspaper means serving the needs of our readers, our advertisers, and our community,” said Dennis Stockton, publisher of The Times. “We believe The Times is a good newspaper, and the many awards from our peers in the industry reinforce that idea. It’s gratifying when your peers acknowledge your achievements, but doing a good job for our readers and advertisers is even more important to us.

“The Times has been recognized for general excellence for the past eight years, which is certainly an accomplishment in which we can take pride.”

Fielding’s hard news coverage included stories about immigration, coverage of a local terror plot and an analysis of a special election for a legislative seat.

The bridges report, written by reporter Jeff Gill, found that four of the bridges over Lake Lanier need to be replaced.

“We have a great group of employees who work hard to make The Times and gainesvilletimes.com excellent sources of information,” Stockton said. “These awards recognize their exceptional efforts.”

Sports editor Brent Holloway won first place for best sports column. Executive Editor Mitch Clarke won for best humorous column.

Chief photographer Tom Reed won for best news photograph for his photo of a candlelight vigil at North Georgia College & State University. Photographer Scott Rogers won for best spot news photo for his photo of a couple consoling each other after a fire.

Former photographer Sara Guevara won for best sports photograph. She also won second place for photo essay.

Former presentation editor Colin Dunlop won first place for best information graphic.

The newspaper also won first place for feature writing and page one.

The Better Newspaper Contest is an annual competition to recognize the best print and online journalism in Georgia.

The Times competes with Georgia’s mid-sized daily newspapers, those with 15,000 to 39,999 daily circulation, including the Athens Banner-Herald, The Brunswick News and The Marietta Daily Journal.

General excellence is calculated by assigning point values to awards earned by each newspaper; the newspaper with the highest number of points wins in its category. Points earned in the separate GPA advertising contest are included in the point total.

Second-place honors went to reporter Brandee Thomas for feature writing and Metro Editor Shannon Casas for information graphic. The newspaper’s reporting team won second place for hard news writing.

Other second place finishes were for lifestyles coverage, sports section, editorial writing and layout and design.

Reed also took three third-place awards for web photograph, photo essay and spot news photograph. Former reporter Dallas Duncan won third place for education coverage.

The newspaper also won third place for religion coverage, business coverage, sports writing, community service for coverage of Lake Lanier and headline writing.