The Times special series on dealing with the area's traffic woes was named Story of Year in the 2010 Georgia Associated Press Association awards announced Saturday.

"Tangling with Traffic," a two-day series written by Jeff Gill and Brandee A. Thomas, also won first place for non-deadline reporting at the awards luncheon in Macon.

The two awards were among eight first-place honors received by The Times, more than any other in its circulation classification.

"We are proud of the job done by our news staff, and these awards from our peers in the industry make it obvious that others appreciate the quality of our content as well," said Dennis Stockton, publisher of The Times. "The true judge of our news product is our readers, who continue to show an amazing level of support for The Times and gainesvilletimes.com."

The Times also won first place in public service for "For What It's Worth," an examination of residential property values and sale prices by Ashley Fielding and Melissa Weinman.

Fielding and photographer Sara Guevara won second place in public service for "The River's Reach," an eight-part look at the people whose livelihood depends on the Chattahoochee, which is at the center of a battle between Georgia, Alabama and Florida over how much water each should get.

Weinman also won first place for Freedom of Information for her investigation, using the state's Open Records Law, into payments by Hall County Commission Chairman Tom Oliver to a consultant. She took second place in beat reporting for his political coverage of the county commission and the gubernatorial campaign of Nathan Deal.

Other first-place awards include:

• Sports: Adam Krohn, Bill Murphy, James Wolfe and Jonathan Zopf for "Playing with Pain," a series of stories about athletes and the injuries they sustain.

• Business: Tricia L. Nadolny for her story on an effort in Dawsonville to open a legal moonshine distillery.

• Graphics & Illustrations: Colin Dunlop for his graphic illustrating the area's most dangerous intersections

• Spot News Photo: Guevara for her photo of a pedestrian who was struck by a car while she was trying to cross Green Street.

Other second-place awards include:

• Graphics & Illustrations: Dunlop for his illustration showing how much money candidates for governor had raised.

• Portfolio: Scott Rogers for his photographic portfolio.

• Spot News Photo: Rogers for a photo of a firefighter in a burned-out house.

Third-place awards include:

• Non-deadline Reporting: Elizabeth Burlingame for her package on bullying in schools.

• Feature Writing: Gill for his story on the anniversary of V-J Day.

• Sports Feature Photo: Guevara for her photo of athletes celebrating a goal.

AP member newspaper editors in Indiana judged the Georgia newspaper entries in four classes based on circulation. The Times competes in the same category as Athens Banner-Herald, The Albany Herald, Marietta Daily Journal, Rome News-Tribune and Valdosta Daily Times.