Posted April 20, 2017
By Carolyn Click, School of Journalism and Mass Communications senior semester instructor
Top photo: The award-winning senior semester class photo
The South Carolina Press Association will recognize the work of students in the USC Senior Semester Capstone program on April 21 when college students around the state gather for the SCPA Collegiate Meeting at Francis Marion University.
The students, most of whom graduated in May and December 2016, captured 12 awards, including sweeps in the feature story and infographic categories. Current capstone students will pick up the awards for their colleagues at the day-long event in Florence.
Patrick Ingraham won a first place for a series of stories on Orangeburg photographer Cecil Williams called “Cecil Williams: Through the Lens.” Ingraham, whose work was also recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists with a regional Mark of Excellence award, wrote a lengthy profile on Williams, who has chronicled the civil rights movement from the 1940s to today. Ingraham also won third place in the feature category in the SCPA competition.
Andrew Moore, a reporter at the Greenville Journal, captured a first place in feature writing for his “Saving the honeybee: Businesses educate future beekeepers,” which detailed the importance of bees in the food chain. Moore also won third place for a photograph of a Little Mountain gun shop owner which illustrated a story on the role of the gun issue in the presidential race.
AnnaMarie Koehler-Shepley won second place in features for “All in a day’s work (service dog edition)” which chronicled the training of service dogs for disabled individuals.
John Del Bianco, a reporter for 247Sports, won second place in sports writing for “First pitch of Bull Street project crosses home plate,” which detailed the opening day of the Columbia Fireflies minor league team.
Colin Demarest, a reporter at the Berkshire Record in Massachusetts, captured third place honors for a series of photographs. (see photo gallery)
In the infographic division, Lia Grabowski, acquisitions editor at the History Press in Charleston, won first place for “Who has suffered the most after S.C.’s historic flood?” Second place went to Charnita Mack, public relations specialist at Alison South Marketing Group, for “The Price Tag to fix South Carolina's Roads.” Third place went to Jamie Ussery for “S.C. roads worst in region.”
The full staff of the spring 2016 capstone program earned third place honors for two projects: “Six Months After,” a look back at the historic Columbia flood of 2015, and “A State in Crisis: South Carolina’s Decaying Roads.”