Students receive awards from two professional organizations

Posted on: November 5, 2021; Updated on: November 5, 2021

University of South Carolina students and recent graduates once again swept the annual South Carolina Press Association collegiate awards and Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas awards.

The SCPA awards recognize excellence in student journalism. The RTDNAC awards recognize the best student and professional work in radio and TV. Winning work was published between late 2019 and late 2020. Below is a list of winners from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

SCPA Awards

UofSC students placed in almost every category for their work on Carolina News and Reporter and The Daily Gamecock.

Work recognized in the undergraduate enrollment of 5,000 or more category:

News Story

Second Place - Matthew Edwards - Carolina News & Reporter - Rush to help science, end pandemic motivates COVID-19 vaccine trial participants
Third Place - Matthew Edwards - Carolina News & Reporter - Two years later, S.C. town still recovering from back-to-back hurricane losses

Feature Story

First Place - Laurryn Thomas - Carolina News & Reporter - Lonely at the top: Wanda Lloyd’s journey through American newsrooms
Second Place - Kailey Cota - The Daily Gamecock - 'Everybody is family' at local liquor store Jimmie and Son
Third Place - Hallie Hayes - Carolina News & Reporter - Men in vintage

Arts and Entertainment Story

Second Place - Lily Shahida - The Daily Gamecock - Local artists, City Hall disagree on "What is Art?"
Third Place - Hallie Hayes - Carolina News & Reporter - Artist creates swirling roosters for restaurant re-opening

Sports Story

Second Place - Caleb Gilbert - Carolina News & Reporter - Fireflies hit home run on Twitter despite affiliation loss
Third Place - Michael Sauls - The Daily Gamecock - South Carolina New and Creative Media team adapts despite COVID-19 challenges, hiring freeze

Column or Editorial Writing

Third Place - Denali Culver - Carolina News & Reporter - Escape to the last frontier

Photograph

First Place - Christopher Lorensen - Carolina News & Reporter

Work recognized in the Open Division category

Page One Design

First Place - Erin Slowey and Taylor Sharkey - The Daily Gamecock - Dec. 2, 2019

Specialty Page Design

First Place - Vanessa Purpura - The Daily Gamecock
Second Place - Hallie Hayes - Carolina News & Reporter

Sports Photograph

Third Place - Olivia McLucas - The Daily Gamecock

Photo Story

First Place - Denali Culver - Carolina News & Reporter

Infographic

Second Place - Vanessa Purpura - The Daily Gamecock
Third Place - Vanessa Purpura - The Daily Gamecock

Advertisement

First Place - Abby Gerwit - The Daily Gamecock
Second Place - Emily Schoonover - The Daily Gamecock
Third Place - Emily Schoonover - The Daily Gamecock

Website

First Place - The Daily Gamecock

Use of Social Media

First Place - The Daily Gamecock

RTNDA Awards

SJMC students ROCKED the RTDNAC Awards this year, with seven first place awards and six second place awards in TV and a second place radio award as well. Some of the highlights:

The school swept three categories: Best Student Multimedia report, Best Student News Reporting and Best Student Photography.
One recent graduate, Spencer Buckler, took home the Haney Howell Student Journalist of the Year Award (and best Student TV News Producing as well).
Another recent graduate, visual storyteller Ward Jolles, took home five different awards (in news reporting, feature reporting and photography).
In TV categories, students took home more awards than all regional peer institutions combined.
In radio, the SJMC's second place award was for a podcast piece produced by multimedia journalism student Nate Lemmens and anchored by broadcast student Flynn Snyder.