April 2009

The Carolina Reporter earns honors from SPJ and SCPA

Click on a thumbnail to view .pdf of the winning articles and graphics.

The Carolina Reporter, the practicum newspaper of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, has been named the best non-daily collegiate newspaper in a four-state region by the Society of Professional Journalists.

SJMC students also picked up first-place awards for in-depth reporting and online reporting, as well as several other second- and third-place awards among schools from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

First-place winners go on to compete in SPJ's national Mark of Excellence awards.

Members of the Carolina Reporter also won a total of six awards in the South Carolina Press Association contest.

SPJ's regional in-depth reporting award went to Jess Davis and Brett Bechtol for their coverage of "The Faces of Hispanic Immigration." The project also won a first-place award from the state press association for best news story. The SCPA judges said: "The enterprise story is sophisticated and well conceived. The writing is clear and story is structured well. Stakeholder voices make clear points. Very well done."

Monique Cunin, Tom Benning, Tsuyoshi Inajima and Austin Collins won first place for SPJ in online news reporting for "The Gerrymandered State," an extensive look at why so many legislative elections in South Carolina have no competition.

In other SPJ regional awards, Davis won third place in general news photography for her work in conjunction with the Hispanic immigration story.

Catherine Martin (not pictured) of the Carolina News, the School's weekday TV newscast, won second place in breaking news reporting for "Tornado destroys home." Aryana Oveissi (not pictured) took third in TV in-depth reporting for "Adderall Abuse."

Also winning a first place for Feature Story was Jillian Hare for “Just Keep Driving.” Judges said,“The story taught me something about Columbia that I didn’t know. You took an interesting tidbit and turned it into a readable story by asking the right people the right questions.”

Christina Sotela also won second-place award for Illustration or Informational Graphic and a third-place award for Feature Story.

Soren Kornegay placed third in Front Page Layout and Design.

Liz White placed third in Illustration or Informational Graphic.

“We had some excellent entries this year, and we are happy to recognize some outstanding college journalism,” said Bill Rogers, SCPA executive director.

The South Carolina Press Association is 157 years old and includes the state's 18 daily newspapers, more than 90 weekly newspapers and 18 collegiate newspapers.