VIENNA, VA -- Last week, the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) recognized five retailers with its 2006 Newspaper Merchandiser of the Year Award that have demonstrated a long-term commitment to selling and marketing newspapers in their stores.

Among the NAA winners are Circle K, which received top honors among convenience stores. NAA recognized Kum & Go for its "Best Partnership Promotion" with Krause Gentle Corporation, and 7-Eleven received honors for its "Best Creative Promotion."

"As more and more organizations realize the importance of the newspapers as a traffic builder for other items in the stores, retailers like these are demonstrating the deep commitment to a newspaper-retailer partnership. Their creative ideas and sales innovations model the industry's cutting-edge approach to single-copy promotions," said NAA Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer John Kimball in a press release.

This year's winners were selected among 37 finalists and were judged in areas including product promotion, creative, sales and impact for the newspaper and for the retailer.