Awards Presentation
Honoring the best collegiate journalism in the Palmetto State
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Johnsonian, Winthrop University
The Collegian,
Zachary Bell
Bethany Brooks
Bob Jones University
NEWS STORY
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Staff The Collegian
Bob Jones University
Good first hand account of students experience following a major disaster. I liked the effort in reaching out to multiple students and sharing details about how they were impacted by the storm.
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University
Frances Ludwig & Madisyn Padgett
Riley Edenbeck Carolina News & Reporter, USC
NEWS STORY
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Sydney Dunlap & Kate Robins
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
Well done article on something that required leg work to put together. I appreciate the real people and the vivid writing. It was the best example of what news should be.
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Paladin, Furman University
The Paladin, Furman University
Carter Ozburn
Michael Peeler
FEATURE STORY
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Damaia Davis
The Panther
Claflin University
A great lede that ties well into the flow of the entire article about the police chief’s life. The author, despite learning about decades of his story, stays focused on the topic and keeps the reader engaged with relevant anecdotes and quotes.
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The
Clemson University
University
Avery Mock
Tiger,
Kat Pugh
The Tiger, Clemson
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Jocelyn Dussault
Carolina News & Reporter
University of South Carolina
Dussault and Smith blended thorough research with a compelling narrative. They have clearly applied their education to craft a piece that is both engaging and insightful, exhibiting professional-level storytelling. Their ability to weave historical context with personal interviews creates a vivid portrayal of the community’s impact. Well done.
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
Hannah Gail Flatt
The Paladin, Furman University
SECOND PLACE
Lili Zayas
Roddey McMillan Record, Winthrop
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT STORY
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Ravyn Rhodes
Roddey McMillan Record
Winthrop University
FEATURE HowDidWeGetHere?: UnveilingPTSDRadio
At the beginning of 2024, five friends got together to form a band. Mixing the Seattle sound with an infectious punk and indie groove, Winthrop’s own PTSD Radio has been expanding its influence in the Rock Hill, Fort Mill, and Charlotte areas. What started out as a fun gateway to making music outside of Winthrop recital requirements and other obligations became a serious passion project, touting a full album release and a growing list of performances. PTSD Radio sat down with The RMR to discuss their humble beginnings, quick rise and hopes for the future in the alternative music scene and beyond. So,HowDidWeGetHere?
Guitarist and drummer Ian Latham explains that after leaving a previous band, he felt a strong desire to rekindle the spirit of the good memories he made during his time there. “I was like ‘I really love this experience and I really want to have it with some, you know Musicians closer to me and like, you know closer to my level.’” That’s when he contacted his friend Josiah Johnson, vocalist for PTSD Radio.
RAVYN RHODES | MANAGING EDITOR
From there, they went about recruiting the rest of the band members, all notably talented musicians in their own right. “I really wanted Chris Nichols (bassist) because I remember [him] talking about learning bass at that time”, Latham said. Hunter Morgan was selected after a Dungeons and Dragons session. “I kind of looked at Josiah and I was like ‘What about Hunter?,’” Latham said. That happened to be the semester that Morgan was playing keyboard for Winthrop’s Commercial Music Ensemble. “I was like ‘[Hunter] would be a crazy awesome keys player,” Latham recalled. Drummer Owen Smith completed the ensemble. The next step was to develop theThesound.group finds its sonic inspiration in the alternative scene, mixing elements of 90s grunge with indie and alternative rock to create something uniquely theirs. However, a lot of their sound is directly inspired by the emotions they pour into the“‘Howmusic.do we feel? Shitty?’ That’s how we wrote ‘No Good Very Bad Day’”, said Johnson. “The amazing thing about being in a band is that when you’re by yourself, sometimes [a riff] can just be a riff and that’s it. But, when you bring it to someone else all of a sudden they have a fresh, new perspective,” Morgan said. Describing the songwriting process, Ian and the other band members lauded Josiah’s particular lyrical ability. “Josiah’s a genius,” Ian said. “We’ll just jam on a riff for like, an hour, maybe, and he’ll come up with the lyrics.” One of the performances that introduced Winthrop to PTSD Radio was at DiGiorgio Student Union’s WUChella event back in April of this year.
Despite some sound-check troubles, the event was a resounding success for the“Theband.performance and the people… that was one of our best performances. We gained a lot of like, social networking things from WUChella,” Johnson said. PTSD Radio was performing around the Rock Hill and Fort Mill areas even before their WUChella performance, but their most memorable performance was at 22Five in Fort Mill. “WUChella was fun, but 22Five was electric,” Johnson said. Branding is everything, and PTSD Radio has certainly taken note of that, donning white dress shirts, red ties, and black jeans during shows, a tradition that started at 22Five. “I’ve been doing research on like, branding and how to market, you know, and that’s like a huge part of it is identifying your look,” Latham said. On the heels of such successful events as their WUChella and 22Five performances, the band recorded their debut album by themselves using unique recording techniques, taking place over the course of about five months, from the beginning of the year toWhatMay.began as a capstone project for Latham’s music technology degree rapidly transformed into a full-fledged effort at a feature release. For example, with help from the rest of the band, Latham constructed a recording booth made of a PVC pipe frame and some blankets. Latham recalled how the booth was only six feet tall and the process of recording inside it could be tricky. However, despite the project’s DIY nature, the band expressed overall satisfaction with and enjoyment of the recording process and its results. “That was a great learning process for me,” Latham said. “It was frustrating, but we had fun doing it.”
This article is filled with great, engaging writing. Each sentence lured me to the next. Here is one of my favorite sentences in the article: “What started out as a fun gateway to making music outside of Winthrop recital requirements and other obligations became a serious passion project, touting a full album release and a growing list of performances.”
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT STORY
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
Macaila Bogle
The Daily Gamecock, USC
SECOND PLACE
Frances Ludwig
The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT STORY
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Avery Mock
The Tiger
Clemson University
This well-researched and well-written article takes the reader behind the scenes in the entertainment world.
Excellent use of good quotes. Nice job.
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Vision, North Greenville University
The Paladin, Furman University
Jesus Arce
Elena Davidson
SPORTS STORY
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Kelsey Watson
The Vision
This is the kind of story that transcends sports and shows what a tight-knit community college athletics can be.
North Greenville University
SPORTS STORY
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
Emma Edwards
The Daily Gamecock, USC
SECOND PLACE
The Daily Gamecock, USC
Mingo Martin
SPORTS STORY
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Griffin Goodwyn
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
Excellent story that explores the rivalry between South Carolina and Clemson with a variety of subjects that include students and their parents, the dilemma that some people have to choose between the two universities, but also connections that the games create between people.
COLUMN OR EDITORIAL WRITING
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Nabila Wilson
The Paladin
Furman University
The writer put me in the story. I felt the pain that the flood victims experienced. Action-oriented writing.
COLUMN OR EDITORIAL WRITING
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The
Clemson University
The Daily Gamecock, USC
Kylie Tutterrow
Tiger,
Varsha Gowda & Jenna Swenson
COLUMN OR EDITORIAL WRITING
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Corey Glenn The Tiger
Clemson University
Great summary of a college experience with anecdotes and a sense of the community, all leading to a clear stance, but it’s not written so obviously that it’s boring. I like the conversational tone of the writing. I didn’t have that type of memory in college!
ONE DESIGN
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
Staff
The Daily Gamecock, USC
SECOND PLACE
Frances Ludwig
The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University
PAGE ONE DESIGN
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
The spacing is fantastic and the use of sports cards to spark nostalgia and tell the story is a home run (no pun intended).
Savannah Nagy & Grant Richa
SPECIALTY PAGE DESIGN
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Frances Ludwig The Chanticleer
City’s name change initiates religious disputes
Conway transforms into Halloween, SC for third year in a row
By Isabelle Neilson News Candidate
ideas and decorations each year. Many residents that work in the city love coming downtown and seeing all the seasonal decorations. Some even add festive decorations to their own workplaces. Gabrielle Emery has worked in downtown Conway for three years at Good Day Sunshine.
it. want to say
they
PHOTOGRAPH
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Collegian, Bob Jones University
The Panther, Claflin University
Olivia Adams
Tyuanna Williams
PHOTOGRAPH
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Jordan Patterson
The Panther
Claflin University
This is the clear winner. The action, the outfits and the facial expressions are fantastic.
PHOTOGRAPH
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
Cassie Cornwell
Carolina News & Reporter, USC
Alicia Caracciolo
The Daily Gamecock, USC
PHOTOGRAPH
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Mingo Martin Carolina News & Reporter
University of South Carolina
A lot of anticipation and a bit of luck made this photo of a national championship celebration a winner.
You can feel the exuberance of the students as they go a bit crazy in the fountain. Well composed.
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
Ashleigh Snyder The Tiger, Clemson University
Megan Sever Carolina News & Reporter, USC
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Taylor Kitchens
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
This photo of Dawn Staley takes the top spot not only because it’s full of energy and intensity, but also because it is an historic capture of a national championship. Well done.
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Collegian, Bob Jones University
The Vision, North Greenville University
PHOTO STORY
Tessa Bonnema
Caroline McNeely
PHOTO STORY
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Sera Crookes
The Johnsonian
Winthrop University
Great use of space to tell stories visually.
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
Photo Staff
The Tiger, Clemson University
SECOND PLACE Staff
The Daily Gamecock, USC
PHOTO STORY
PHOTO STORY
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Alexis Croft, Jada Kirkland & Megan Sever
Carolina News & Reporter
University of South Carolina
This is a wonderful photo story with a variety of images and situations at the Carolina Cup. The emotion and excitement of the events is well documented in these outstanding photos. You can feel what it was like to be there.
CARTOON OR ILLUSTRATION
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Paladin, Furman University
The Paladin, Furman University
Jacob Robertson
Jacob Robertson
CARTOON OR ILLUSTRATION
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Jacob Robertson
The Paladin Furman University
Effective cartoon. Gets point across clearly with good use of art and emotion.
CARTOON OR ILLUSTRATION
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Daily Gamecock, USC
Abby Short
Emma Bulman The Tiger, Clemson University
CARTOON OR ILLUSTRATION
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Hailey Herzog
The Tiger
Clemson University
Cartoonist does a great job illustrating frustration with campus road construction projects.
THIRD PLACE
Ludwig
SECOND PLACE
FIRST PLACE
Savannah Nagy
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
Effective infographic showcasing the wage gap. Packs a ton of info and data into this easy-to-read and understand graphic. Well done.
MIXED MEDIA ILLUSTRATION
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Daily Gamecock, USC
The Daily Gamecock, USC
Savannah Robinson
Savannah Robinson
MIXED MEDIA ILLUSTRATION
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Taylor Kitchens
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
Wow! Expert use of multiple photos and graphic elements. Packs a punch without being too busy.
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
Frances Ludwig
The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University
Savannah Nagy
The Daily Gamecock, USC
ADVERTISEMENT
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Chloe Ehlers
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
This ad stands out for use of art, color and fonts. Effective use of space. Great presentation of content with engaging headline, copy and call to action. Bravo! Also worth noting that every entry in this category is worthy of award placement. VERY creative ads submitted overall!
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University
The
Madison Sharrock
Caroline Block
Tiger, Clemson University
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE Staff
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
Great UX chock full of news, features, sports and opinion pieces. Breaking news and other timely content is easy to find. Every submission in this contest should be proud. Very good work showcased!
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
Jacob Strouse
The Vision, North Greenville University
The Collegian, Bob Jones University
Daniel Matesevac, William Klapperich & Rylie Wiedell
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Jonathan Lovegrove
The Collegian
Bob Jones University
Great interview with the new school president. Both host and guest seemed immediately comfortable with each other.
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
Taylor Kitchens
The Daily Gamecock, USC
SECOND PLACE
Josh Daniels and Corey Glenn The Tiger, Clemson University
VIDEO
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Sydney Dunlap & Kate Robins
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
Good to see on the scene reporting from the school newspaper about a big time school athletics event.
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
Caroline Surface
The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University
SECOND PLACE
The Daily Gamecock, USC
Sydney Dunlap, Elena Keller & Awani Bildikar
USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Josh Daniels & Hayden Byrum
The Tiger
Clemson University
The Tiger takes First Place for its data-driven strategy and prioritization of new mediums. Content is diverse, engaging and highly “sharable.”
It is clear the entire team at The Tiger works together to bring professionally created and curated content to a variety of different audiences across these channels.
THIRD PLACE
SECOND PLACE
Mariah Jordon
The Tiger, Clemson University
Madison Sharrock & Caroline Surface
The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University
PODCAST COLLEGIATE OPEN DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Staff The Collegian
Bob Jones University
The hosts have a good rapport and talk about topics relevant to the Bob Jones community.
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
SECOND PLACE
The Daily Gamecock, USC
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
FIRST PLACE
Staff
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
Good job curating news into timely brief snippets showcasing the most important stories.
COLLEGIATE UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
Sera Crookes (Layout) & Staff
Roddey McMillan Record, Winthrop
First Place
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
THIRD PLACE
The Chanticleer
Coastal Carolina University
SECOND PLACE
The Tiger
Clemson University
GENERAL EXCELLENCE
COLLEGIATE OVER 10,000 DIVISION
First Place
The Daily Gamecock
University of South Carolina
Extensive and wide-ranging coverage of campus and community issues. Stories, commentary and photos shine in this well-designed news publication. Kudos to everyone involved in producing these outstanding editions.
Lee Harter
Collegiate Journalist of the Year Award
COLLEGIATE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
UNDER 10,000 DIVISION
The Johnsonian, Winthrop University
Lee Harter
Clark Vilardebo
COLLEGIATE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
OVER 10,000 DIVISION
The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University
Lee Harter
Madison Sharrock
