Two members of The Tidewater News advertising staff won four awards in the 2007 Virginia Press Association Creative Advertising Contest.

The awards were presented Saturday night at The Cavalier in Virginia Beach during the VPA’s 63rd annual conference.

Ad designer Retta Lomax won a first place and a second place for two color ads.

The first-place winning ad was in the Home & Garden category for City Paint, a Franklin store.

Lomax, who also won an award in last year’s contest, took second in the Food & Drug category for Peanut Patch, a Courtland gift shop.

Ad designer Matt Babb also won two awards.

Babb took a second place in the Small Retailer category, black and white .

He also took a second place in the In-Paper Promotions/Newspapers in Education category for a color ad.

The Tidewater News advertising director Betty Ramsey also attended the conference.

The Virginia Press Association was founded in the late 19th century and was incorporated by a special act of the Virginia General Assembly in 1881.

The group represents newspaper interests in the General Assembly through lobbying efforts. It also holds one of the largest news, editorial and photography contests in the nation, annually attracting more than 5,000 entries.