The Sun Journal has received four awards – among them two first-place awards, for subscription sales and community relations – at the recent New England Association of Circulation Executives conference.

Circulation Director Mike Theriault said the subscription sales category is based on a newspaper’s best circulation-promotion ideas. The Sun Journal’s entry was based upon the television series “Survivor” and ran in the fall of 2004. Each of the show’s cast members was assigned monetary values. Carriers were then compensated for each new subscription they obtained based upon the “Survivor” cast member voted off the show that week. The carriers were unaware of the amount until the show aired, which added to the anticipation, Theriault said, and kept the carriers involved.

A first-place community relations award was also presented for a program designed to provide daily newspapers and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee to soldiers in Iraq. The program has been in effect for more than a year and has been received with great praise, Theriault said.

Theriault said he was thrilled with the awards, the first time in 15 years he could recall the newspaper’s bringing home four different awards.

“The awards are definitely a reflection on the team camaraderie here at the Sun Journal,” he said. “We really did a bang-up job this year. I owe that not only to my staff but also the design staff.”

The Sun Journal also received a Best in Show award.

Sun Journal carrier Diane Crocker of Norway received a Good Samaritan award. In his thank-you letter to Crocker, Paris Police Chief David P. Verrier noted that Crocker’s assistance helped lead police to the arrest of four males on criminal mischief charges and solved a burglary case.