This past Friday, April 11, members of The Paladin staff attended the South Carolina Press Association’s annual collegiate conference at Clemson University. At the conference’s concluding ceremony, members of The Paladin staff won numerous awards in the smaller school division for their work this year. Stephanie Bauer, news editor during the fall semester, won the first-place award for news writing for her article “Inside the Presidential Transition.” Editor-in-Chief Bryan Betts won the first-place award for sports writing for his feature sports story “The Search for the Perfect Walkout Song.” Opinions Editor Jacob Zimmerman won the second-place award for editorial writing for the authorless editorial “Community, Cooperation, and the Presidential Search.” Photographer Neeley Wood won second place for best sports photography for her photograph “Rugby.”

Additionally, Opinions Editor Jacob Zimmerman was selected as the Collegiate Journalist of the Year at member institutions with less than 5,000 students. The highest individual honor awarded by the SCPA, Zimmerman was selected for writing the authorless editorials in The Paladin’s Opinions section. As a part of this award, Zimmerman, along with the SCPA’s other Collegiate Journalist of the Year, was invited to give one of the conference’s two keynote addresses.