It’s a thankless job carried out at ungodly hours and in any weather Mother Nature decides to throw at Butler County.

For those reasons, management at the Butler Eagle honored the company’s three top carriers on Wednesday at a Carrier of the Year reception, where the surprised employees were treated to an employee gathering and prizes for their designations.

Readers filled out nomination forms and mailed them to the newspaper’s office, where a committee of employees from four departments chose three deserving candidates from the more than 100 nominations submitted.

The three winners were asked to come to the office on Wednesday morning, but were not told why.

“I feel great,” said Carrier of the Year Sandy Angus. “I’m very excited.”

Angus, of Butler, delivers the Eagle to 78 customers throughout the city.

The route, which she starts at 5:30 a.m., takes about 2.5 hours to complete.

Angus has been working as an Eagle carrier since 2013.

“She is spot on every day,” said Angus’ district manager, Sam Allison. “I’ve never heard a complaint.”

Angus received a $200 cash prize and plaque on Wednesday morning.

Melvin McChesney, the first reader to nominate Angus, also will receive a $50 Visa gift card.

Tammy Schuey, Eagle general manager, said no job is more important than a carrier.

“If we don’t have these folks, all the work we do in this nice, comfortable office, it doesn’t get out there,” she said. “The carriers are the face of the Butler Eagle. They are the people our readers see every day.”

Alice Lunn, Eagle circulation director, was thrilled that three of her carriers were awarded. She said all provide a vital service.

“It is important to recognize our carriers, as they have the final and most important job of getting our newspaper into the hands of our subscribers,” Lunn said.

Coming in second in the contest was Laurie Williams of Worth Township, who has delivered the Eagle for 13 years.

Second- and third-place winners also received monetary awards and a plaque.

Williams arrives at the Eagle production center on West Wayne Street each night at 11 p.m. to get in line to receive her route’s 105 papers.

After rolling them and placing them in a bag, she spends up to four hours delivering to homes over a span of 85 miles in her area north of Moraine State Park.

Some are delivered to customers just over the Butler County border in Mercer and Lawrence counties.

Asked her favorite part of delivering the Eagle, Williams barks out her answer immediately.

“I have so many dogs on my route and they all know my car,” Williams said.

She buys two to three boxes of dog biscuits per month for her four-legged fans.

“I’ve got the cookie mobile for the puppies,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve got two or three I call my cookie monsters.”

Third-place winner, Dawn Plaisted of Connoquenessing, began delivering the newspaper in 1998 to earn extra money for her daughter’s wedding.

She has delivered on and off since then, much to the delight of her 330 customers.

“They are all very terrific people,” Plaisted said. “I could not pick a favorite.”

The carriers discussed the various situations they have faced as they make their appointed rounds each day, including transformers and electric lines laying on the road, dodging deer in their cars and rolling up on loose cows that blocked their paths.

“I feel like 911 knows me pretty well,” Plaisted said.

Williams recalled seeing a newspaper scooting quickly down the sidewalk before she realized a squirrel was pulling it.

On one early morning run, Williams placed a paper into a Butler Eagle box and a bird flew out, into one window of her car and out the other.

“Good thing it was summer,” she said.

Bobby Shoudt, district manager for Williams and Plaisted, called the carriers reliable and always on time.

“Hearing comments from the customers, they certainly deliver excellent service,” Shoudt said.

All three winners will be nominated by Schuey for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Foundation’s Carrier of the Year contest in July.