2020 Collegiate Awards
Presented virtually Oct. 27, 2021
Design Awards: 5:12
Photography Awards: 6:00
Digital Awards: 8:57
General Excellence: 10:35
Comments for First Place Winners
Full comments for First Place winners are now available. Download the PDF presentation with graphic representations of your wins, as well as Judges’ Comments for First Place winners. First Place comments are also be available in text format in this searchable Google Sheet.
General Excellence
Over 5,000 Division
First Place: The Daily Gamecock, University of South Carolina
Well-organized and well-written with appealing photos, engaging graphics and design. Strong news content and writing, varied community news involving both the school and the greater community, strong opinion pages/columns, and helpful information. Impressive volume of work.
Second Place: The Johnsonian, Winthrop University
Third Place: The Tiger, Clemson University
Under 5,000 Division
First Place: The Patriot, Francis Marion University
What set the FMU paper apart from the other entries was the quantity of on-campus coverage of events. I particularly liked the Jan. 30 coverage of the commencement and the packaging of the MLK Day events with the story on the removing of Neo-Nazi stickers. The student and teacher profiles in each edition were done well.
Second Place: The Collegian, Bob Jones University
Third Place: Old Gold and Black, Wofford College
Collegiate Journalists of the Year
Evan Myers, The Paladin
Winner in the Under 5,000 Division
For the quality of journalism, leadership and innovation, we are proud to recognize Evan Myers of The Paladin at Furman University as the Press Association’s Collegiate Journalist of the Year in the Under 5,000 division. Judges said Myers is a talented news and opinion writer and editor who tackled important issues on campus and showed leadership and innovation.
He reinvented the campus newspaper from an every other week publication to an online publication capable of breaking news, and engineered a resurgence in the newspaper elevating it to a must-read independent source of information on campus.
The news he broke was important but sometimes controversial, including coverage of Furman’s student government president who violated new rules put in place to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks. He also covered early outbreaks of coronavirus on campus, including one that resulted in the suspension of one fraternity. He attempted to hold university administrators accountable for their silence following the dismissal of a Furman professor for misrepresenting her ethnic identity. He also hosted a podcast that explored issues of interest to college students and university communities.
Evidence of the impact of Evan Myer’s leadership in student journalism at Furman has been widespread. Students, faculty and alumni are reading the newspaper and talking about it.
Erin Slowey, The Daily Gamecock
Winner in the Over 5,000 Division
Erin Slowey’s leadership is a blend of grit and compassion and we proudly honor her as our Collegiate Journalist of the Year in the Over 5,000 division. Judges said this journalist displayed very strong reporting on important topics and helped lead a national discussion on mental health. Slowey also grew her newspaper’s digital audience and engagement by delivering content directly to every university student via email… a first in the newspaper’s 112 year history. She also served as editor during COVID-19 and the abrupt shift from print to online. She made waves with the university administration by doing her job — and doing it really well. Her focus was on the critical function of watchdog journalism at a time when students and parents need answers that aren’t always made clear by the university. Slowey pitched hard-hitting stories like what was happening in the quarantine and isolation dorms, why FERPA wasn’t a legitimate excuse for USC’s lack of information, and how the student conduct process works.
She also led a national conversation on mental health when The Daily Gamecock went dark for a week.