The Salisbury Post won 19 awards, including four first-place awards and second place in general excellence, in the N.C. Press Association’s annual News, Editorial and Photojournalism contest.

The awards were given at a ceremony Thursday evening in Chapel Hill.

Among those recognized was the late Post sports editor Ronnie Gallagher, who won third place for sports columns and shared a third-place award with his staff — Mike London, Ryan Bisesi and David Shaw — for sports coverage.

Gallagher’s wife Joan and two of his sisters attended the ceremony and accepted his awards.

Post columnist Mark Wineka won first-place awards for sports columns and sports feature writing for a story about George Hargrave, who broke color barriers as a golfer. He also won second-place awards for lighter columns, serious columns and general news reporting.

Post Editor Elizabeth Cook won first place for lighter columns, second place for editorials and shared a third place award for editorial pages with Chris Verner, the paper’s editorial page editor.

Emily Ford, who covers the city of Salisbury and business, won first place in business writing for stories about the 10-year anniversary of the closing of Pillowtex.

Also winning awards:

• Nathan Hardin, the Post’s former county government reporter, won second place in investigative reporting for articles about problems within the East Spencer Police Department and third place in business writing for stories about Rowan County’s purchase of the former Salisbury Mall.

• Photographer Jon Lakey, Hardin and former web content manager Andy Morrissey won second place in videos for a piece about a 1920s-era Tommy gun the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office has had for decades and planned to sell.

• Sarah Campbell, the Post’s former Lifestyle editor, won second place in education reporting.

• Page designer Andy Mooney won third place in feature section design for a bridal section.

• The Salisbury Post news staff won third-place awards for community coverage and special section, for the 2013 Graduates section.

The Post won the most awards in its division.