South :Pointe's Spin Magazine does it Again! #rockhill #rhsd3

South Pointe in the News (SPiN), student media of the Stallions, made history yesterday in Columbia at the South Carolina Scholastic Press Association Spring Conference and Awards when both its print and online versions of the newspaper earned the top ratings given by judges in their separate categories.  Very few other state schools have both print and online versions and no other school earned top honors in both print and online competition. The awards were given in the Ballroom at Russell House on the University of South Carolina campus.

SPiN earned the coveted All-State ranking in the print category and was declared Excellence in Scholastic Newspaper Awards (ESNA) Sweepstakes champion for Class A (schools with 1,500 or fewer students). Wando High School’s Tribal Tribune took first place in the Sweepstakes for schools with more than 1,500.  The Sweepstakes champions collected the most first, second, and third place Excellence in Scholastic Newspaper Awards in individual competition in 13 categories such as Sports and Front Page Design.

Stallions who won the ESNA Yearly First-Place Awards were senior Maggie Hedrick in both Art and Computer Design, senior managing editor O’Brien Brown in Computer Design, senior editor-in-chief Wade Hopper in Front Page Design, and senior Loftin Bridges in Sports.

Earning second-place ESNA Yearly Awards in the state competition were Brown in Photography, junior Cole Davenport in Reviews, senior Luke Allen in Sports, Hopper in Layout, senior contributor Justin Syhabanditha in Columns,  and senior Jonathan Shoaf in Features.

In the online newspaper competition, which is only in its second year of existence through the SCSPA, SPiN Wired earned the top ranking of Superior.  Editor-in-chief Holden LeCroy, a junior, also earned first-place honors in Online Photography and second in Online News Features. Junior Aziyah Ford placed second in Online Opinion Pieces. LeCroy and junior Tanner Norby also won third place in Online Sports.

Additionally, seniors Jake Riggins and Graceyn Taylor earned Spring ESNAS, Taylor for second place in News Feature and Riggins for third place in Features.

To have both our print and online versions, which publish completely different content, bring home top ratings in the state competition and to see so many Stallions earning individual honors at the highest level of very tough competition means our journalism program has set itself apart from all other programs in the state because we are the only place doing both print and online at this level of excellence as recognized by the state scholastic press association.

Please congratulate SPiN staff members on their awards.

Cindy Koon, SPiN adviser