The Sumter Item newsroom wins 14 awards at annual S.C. Press Association banquet

COLUMBIA - The Sumter Item took home 14 awards Friday, March 11, 2023, from the South Carolina Press Association's annual banquet for newspapers across the state.

The SCPA, which offers training, advocacy and hotline services to its member papers, including support of open government and Freedom of Information Act issues, recognizes the best in local news each year. Staff at newspapers in other states judge the submissions. The Item's awards this year represent five first-place wins, seven secondplace and two third-place recognitions.

"I'm always proud of our newsroom when these awards roll around annually. They work so hard, often with little to no public recognition, to provide information and storytelling that I know would be sorely missed if we were not here," said Kayla Green, executive editor of The Item. "We competed in a division this year against larger newspapers than in recent years, and almost every single person who entered won something, even some of our firstyear journalists. Their individual and combined talent is inspiring."

Leading the heap is a staff award for General Excellence in the medium daily market, one of the biggest recognitions given. This award represents a newspaper's consistent and high quality, from reporting, writing and topic quality and variety to editing, headlines, design, photography, use of photos and sports, editorial and lifestyle sections.

"No matter who is on the individual awards, it takes an entire team to create a consistently superior product," Green said. "There are some people who help make it all happen whose names are never on the byline of an article. This staff award really speaks to the teamwork of a newsroom and how much we rely on each other to create something that serves our community in a meaningful way."

"Having access to interviews with each of the candidates helped me develop a better understanding of individuals I may have known by name only. I was able to refer friends in other wards (voting districts) to the online articles as well, which enabled them to form their own opinions. I believe access to this kind of reporting impacts our community in positive ways. Only two of eight incumbents who ran won their election, which means to me that people were invested and passionate, and it takes an informed public to get that form of engagement. I didn't see this local reporting anywhere else, and I'm very grateful I live in a community where it is still available."

"The Sumter Item did a wonderful job of covering the school board and its elections. I serve on the governor's military base task force, and the morning after the election I got a call from the task force staff member in the governor's office wanting to know the results. Why? Because the military is so important in South Carolina, and the education of our military children in our communities is so important. I was so happy to report that we have made a drastic change, and it looks like Sumter is headed in a direction to change the school board and move in a positive direction. And I have to give credit to the local newspaper - The Sumter Item - for making that happen, and particularly Bruce Mills."

"My wife and I feel the printed media take more time to prepare articles and fact-check before they put out the information. In an era of 24/7 TV news cycles where you are bombarded with information, it's beneficial to be able to sit down and read information, and certainly the No. 1 topic in Sumter County for the past couple of years has been the situation in our public schools.

The public schools in Sumter County are the most important element in our economic development because graduates who come out of those schools are the people who are going to be taking jobs in our local businesses and industries. For some time, we - in the industrial sector - have been concerned about the hires that we make not being well enough prepared in basic subjects such as reading, mathematics and reasoning. However, we have not noted a lot of improvement, if any. We have been following this issue very intently, and I think voters in this community have been very much motivated to evaluate the leadership in the district and the need for some changes.

"In the case of The Item, the newspaper was very even-handed in its coverage of the school board elections. The reporting on the meetings of the board was accurate. The interviews with the candidates - both the incumbents and the challengerswere interesting and fair.

"We really need to up our game, so to speak, in our public schools in Sumter County, and I think that is what the voters were saying when they elected seven new members to the school board this time. We are not satisfied in Sumter County with mediocrity. We're concerned that enrollment is dropping in the public school district. We want this county to be competitive for new investments by outside entities, and we have been pretty successful with that in the past 10 years. But we are going to stall out unless our public schools improve. Excellence is what we want, and I think that is what - in a way - The Item has been hinting at in its coverage of the school board and its elections. Which of the aspiring leaders who want to be on the Board of Trustees is going to lead us to excellence in public education?

"And, frankly, as just one citizen, I am grateful that The Item gave the coverage it did to this most important issue. I think we are going to make improvements in Sumter County, and I am optimistic about the public schools here. And I believe The Item helped lead our voting citizens to make the selections that they did without bias. I thought candidates received good, equal coverage, and it was a spirited school board election campaign.

It was democracy at work, and that is what The Item reported: Democracy at work at the local level. And that is really the most important level. The coverage of this board election was just excellent."

Another staff award, led by Bruce Mills, was for a new Community Service category. Competing against all daily newspapers in the state, Mills led a sustained effort to cover and hold accountable Sumter's school board amid a lack of transparency, a rift between its former superintendent and an election. Mills' and The Item's comprehensive coverage, including reporting, use of public records, editorials, video and election guides, led to a demonstrated impact in giving the public information citizens used to make their own decisions. The coverage led to a citizen-led lawsuit, challenges on the ballot and eventual election results marking a majority turnover of the board.

Three other first-place awards included:

- Shelbie Goulding in food writing for a story on a high school culinary program's baking competition called Cupcake Wars (medium and small markets combined);

- Nich Pitts, a regular sports photography contributor, in the general news photo category for a capture of Lakewood High School's graduation (medium market); and

- Richie Weber in the feature video category for an episode of Sumter Today, The Item's good news show, featuring Alonzo McDonald, who was named Teacher of the Year in the former Clarendon School District 2 (large and medium markets combined). Second-place awards went to six different people:

- Shelbie Goulding for the Daily Top Stories newsletter (statewide);

- Micah Green in the humorous photo category of a capture of the choir director at First Presbyterian Church, Joni Brown, leading a rehearsal for the church's annual Christmastime "Lessons and Carols" program (large and daily markets combined);

- Tim Leible in two categories, for sports page design (medium and small markets combined) of The Grind featuring Clarendon Hall's McKenley and Mandy Wells and in the game coverage category for his reporting on Wilson Hall softball winning its second-straight state title (medium market);

- Alaysha Maple in the review portfolio category for her reviews of two Sumter Little Theatre plays, "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" and "Love, Loss and What I Wore," and a Red Clay Strays concert at the Sumter Opera House (statewide);

- Ashley Miller for education beat reporting for her use of public records and coverage of the newly consolidated Clarendon County School District (medium and small markets combined); and

- Nich Pitts in the sports feature photo category for a capture of Griffin McIntosh before Clarendon Hall's season opener against Thomas Sumter Academy. It was the Saints' first game playing 11man football in 13 years (medium market).

Third-place awards went to:

- Cal Cary in the humorous photo category for a capture of a Crestwood High School student who was falling asleep at his graduation ceremony (large and medium markets); and

- Micah Green in the feature photo category of two boys channeling their inner Top Gun at the Shaw Air and Space Expo.

TheSumterItem'ssister newspaper, TheLexington Chronicle , took home eight awards in the small weekly market.

Among them was Cary Howard, who also serves as a graphic designer at TheItem . She won first place in front-page design. TheChroniclestaff won second place for general excellence.