We learned today that SWoCo has won an award in the Suburban Newspapers of America annual contest.

* SWoCo shared second place — with its sister publications in Botetourt County and Salem– in the “best web/print combination” category.”

The judges said:

The Botetourt View, So Salem and SWoCo are print / online projects produced by The Roanoke Times that combine user-generated contributions, a community journalist, local advertising sales and online-first, edited-for-print content in the way that many media companies can and should.”

Meanwhile, our parent site — www.roanoke.com — took first place in the “best overall local news site” category. SWoCo and our other community publications drew an indirect mention there. The judges said:

“Roanoke.com and The Roanoke Times cover all the bases with this excellent site and suite of interactive-media services including mobile for Blackberry, IPhone and Droid. News texting , even digital billboards for breaking news? Great stuff. Nice design. Especially liked photos of the week and the local community sections.”

As the judges pointed out, we rely on you — the reader — to share many of the photos you’d like the community to see, so we here at SWoCo thank you!