Members of Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s Gang Unit swept an annual awards ceremony last week, earning accolades for their work to assist victims and prevent violence by holding violent felons accountable for their actions.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Janezic, deputy chief of the Gang Unit, received the Brian J. Honan Award for Excellence in the Courtroom and the Communities We Serve at the seventh annual Suffolk Awards, held Thursday evening at Suffolk University. The Suffolk Awards, implemented by Conley when he took office, honor achievements by office staff during the previous year.

Janezic, who left the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office to prosecute gang-related violence as an assistant DA, “spends his days in court and his nights in the community,” Conley said, “with no extra compensation but the satisfaction that he’s doing the right thing. There’s a word for that: it’s dedication, and Joe Janezic defines it.”

Jennifer Sears, one of two victim-witness advocates assigned to cases of violent crime that include shootings, stabbings, and witness intimidation, was named the Outstanding Superior Court Victim-Witness Advocate in part for overseeing the relocations of 18 separate families who were potential targets of retaliation for cooperating with prosecutors. Her work in the Gang Unit, Conley said, has made the difference in countless cases that depended on witness testimony.

Administrative Assistant Kristen Lydon, also attached to the Gang Unit, was named Outstanding Superior Court Support Staff. With gang prosecutors carrying dozens of Superior Court cases at any given time, Conley said, Lydon’s early morning and late evenings in the office has ensured that every case is organized and every prosecutor is prepared when he or she walks into court.

“We simply could not do what we do without her,” one gang prosecutor said.

“Every gun conviction is a potential shooting averted,” Conley said. “Every shooting conviction takes a potential killer off the street. These cases, and the strategic prosecutions they represent, make the Gang Unit one of the most important legal teams in Massachusetts.”

Other award recipients included Assistant District Attorney Edward Krippendorf, who as a member of Conley’s Homicide Unit helped convict three young men and one young woman for their roles in the murder of Revere Police Officer Daniel Talbot, and Assistant District Attorney Julie Higgins, a domestic violence prosecutor who lent her expertise to the trial of a woman who killed her girlfriend’s daughters by setting fire to their South Boston home. Both were named Outstanding Superior Court prosecutors. Assistant District Attorney David McGowan was named Outstanding Appellate Prosecutor for his meticulous work to defend trial convictions from low-level district court drug cases all the way up to a quadruple murder that made headlines across the state.

Assistant District Attorney Alim Adatia, recently called one of Boston’s most eligible bachelors by the Improper Bostonian magazine, earned the award for Outstanding District Court prosecutor as fellow employees and members of the defense bar alike praised his ability to assess and try a staggering number of cases effectively in one of the state’s busiest courts. Kate Lagana of the Boston Municipal Court was named Outstanding District Court Victim-Witness Advocate for her work with the victims of crime in the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, and downtown Boston.

Brian Bukuras of the Narcotics and Forfeiture Unit was hailed as the year’s Outstanding Superior Court Investigator for voluntarily taking on additional duties as budget cuts precluded the replacement of departing office staff, and the Outstanding District Court Investigator award went to Paul Sanders, a retired Boston Police officer who now assists the prosecution team in Roxbury District Court.

The Suffolk Awards are based upon nominations by office staff and honor members of a crucial public safety agency that is chronically underfunded and understaffed but responsible for more than 40,000 criminal cases each year.

Past Suffolk Award recipients include Assistant District Attorney David Deakin, who most recently prosecuted the man once known as Clark Rockefeller; David Meier, who as chief of Conley’s Homicide Unit worked to reverse the convictions of innocent men imprisoned for crimes they did not commit and, in two cases, went on to obtain the convictions of the true guilty parties; and Chief Trial Counsel Patrick Haggan, who earned the distinction of prosecuting the longest trial in Suffolk County history and obtaining four first-degree murder convictions at its conclusion.