The awards were announced Saturday, March 29, at the SPJ Region 3 Conference in Columbia. (See photos from Conference.)

The first-place winners go on to the national competition.

Broadcast journalism students won two first place awards.

In the TV General News Reporting category, Sarah Chakales won first place for “S.C. Drought.” Chakales will spend the 2008-2009 academic year studying journalism at the University of Hong Kong on a Rotary Scholarship.

Michelle Hamel won first in the TV In-Depth Reporting category for her feature “American Veterans Coalition.” Hamel is currently a weekend weather forecaster for WACH-FOX.

Jonathan Hillyard, won a second place award in the TV Breaking News Reporting category with his feature, "A Brother Mourns."

Print journalism students also won two first place awards for work in The Carolina Reporter, the senior semester capstone course.

Jon Krolewicz won first place in the General News Photography category for his photo “Returning to Society.” (Pictured above.)

In the Newspaper In-Depth Reporting category, Jill Stephens and Christopher Aleman won first place for a special series “Jena 6 Coverage.” In addition to the traditional newspaper coverage, the project also included online reporting with new multimedia technology. (Download pdf of the series.)

USC also took second place in the In-Depth Reporting category. Greg Webster won for "Nursing Home in Bankruptcy."

Justin Broome won a second place award in the Breaking News Photography category for his photo "Jena Rally Draw Diverse Crowd" which accompanied the Jena 6 series. (See below.)