POCATELLO - The Idaho State Journal recently won four national awards from the Inland Press Association.

The Journal competed against newspapers from across the United States and was honored in the explanatory journalism, investigative reporting, photo story and page design categories.

"It's very humbling that judges compared our news coverage to newspapers from across the United States and chose us as the best of the best," said Journal Editor Ian H. Fennell "A lot of hard work goes into publishing the Journal every day, and it's rewarding to receive such high praise."

The Journal's Inland award winners:

City Editor John O'Connell won a second-place award in explanatory journalism for his series on the past, present and future of the Bear River.

Reporter Casey Santee won a second-place award in the investigative reporting category for his "Cold Cases" series on the unsolved abduction and murder of four Pocatello girls during the 1970s and 1980s.

Photographer Joe Kline won a third-place award in the photo story category for his photographs of little person Maddie Harrell.

The Journal's copy desk won a third-place award in the page design category for its front page layouts.

Journal Publisher Bill Kunerth said the national honors show that the Journal serves its readers with the highest quality news coverage.

"The people of Southeast Idaho can rest assured that when news breaks the Idaho State Journal will be there not only to cover it, but to do so with an expertise that's tops in the journalism field," Kunerth said. "We take great pride in being a paper our readers can count on for the most compelling news coverage possible, and these Inland awards show that we're achieving that goal."