Herald earns 26 honors in S.C. Press Association contest

The Herald and heraldonline.com were recognized Saturday with 26 journalism awards – including three first-place honors and a third-place award for general excellence among medium-sized newspapers – in the South Carolina Press Association’s annual contest.

The Herald’s weekly newspapers – the Fort Mill Times, the Lake Wylie Pilot and former Enquirer-Herald – won 10 awards, including four first-place honors.

The awards were presented at the association’s annual convention in Columbia.

“It’s terrific that The Herald and our weekly publications were recognized with several top honors, but equally important is the variety of categories that staffers were recognized in,” said Herald Editor Mark J. Rochester. “From overall general excellence to enterprise reporting to page design and other publishing efforts, the newsroom staff did very well – in its division and among papers statewide. I’m happy to see so much of their great work honored by their industry peers.”

Assistant Sports Editor Bret McCormick’s coverage of Winthrop University women’s basketball Coach Kevin Cook’s battle with Parkinson’s disease was second among all newspapers statewide for the best sports series. McCormick also won first- and third-place awards for small- and medium-sized papers in sports enterprise reporting. His story about highly skilled soccer players who joined their high school team only for the playoffs placed first. A story on how high school football plays get their names placed third.

Bristow Marchant, who covers government and politics, won a first-place award for medium-sized newspapers for his reporting on the fire at a Chester County landfill.

Matt Memrick, a member of The Herald’s design team, won first place for his portfolio of sports front pages for medium-sized newspapers.

Among top honors for all newspapers statewide:

• The Herald’s annual football preview magazine, produced by McCormick, placed third.

• James Werrell, Opinion page editor, won second place in the E.A. Ramsaur Memorial Award for Editorial Writing for all daily newspapers
• Herald business editor Don Worthington placed second among all daily newspapers for health reporting and third for faith reporting.
• The Herald’s “In Step” special section on area high school marching bands, produced by Jennifer Becknell, placed third among all daily newspapers.
• Anna Douglas earned an honorable mention in The Jay Bender Award for Assertive Journalism, for her coverage of the lead-up to the resignation of the superintendent of Chester County schools.

In the weekly competition, the Fort Mill Times won three first-place awards; Michael Harrison, editor of the Fort Mill Times, for the use of social media for all weekly newspapers, Mac Banks for sports enterprise reporting on KJ Woods of Fort Mill High School, and Amanda Harris for a series of articles on Alzheimer’s disease.

Catherine Muccigrosso, editor of the Lake Wylie Pilot, won first place for breaking news for her coverage of two people rescued from a burning car.

Other weekly winners were Banks, who placed second and third in spot sports reporting; Muccigrosso, third place feature video for all weekly newspapers; John Marks, Lake Wylie Pilot, second place public service for all weekly newspapers on the Lake Wylie Children’s Charity, and Jennifer Becknell, Enquirer Herald, third place for reporting in depth.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Herald earns 26 honors in S.C. Press Association contest."