The award was one of several that the station received at the VAPB's annual awards dinner held Saturday night at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Richmond.
The award for outstanding news operation was in recognition of the station news staff's coverage of the Fredericksburg area and surrounding counties. The station has most recently received the award in 2000, 2004 and 2006. The WFLS news staff includes Niche Herman, Nancy Ball, Deirdre Blake and news director Frank Hammon.
The station also received a Superior award for Continuing News Coverage for "Hunt for a Child Predator." Over several days the station's news staff followed the search for a suspect who allegedly touched girls inappropriately in area department stores.
The news staff also was presented with a Superior award for its Web site, wflsnews.com. The news staff has won that award each year since the category's inception in 2005.
The station, owned by The Free-Lance Star Cos., also received Meritorious awards for Best Feature or Human Interest Story, Best Documentary or In-Depth Reporting for "Focus: Internet Predators," and the Douglas Southall Freeman Award for "Payday Lending."
Meritorious honors also went to Niche Herman for Best Effort by an Individual Reporter and Mark Chace for Best News Anchor. Chace has since left the station.