On Friday, March 18, Chalmers Rogland ‘22, managing editor, and I attended the South Carolina Press Association awards ceremony in Columbia, South Carolina. We represented every staff member of the Old Gold & Black and received everyone’s awards on their behalf.

We listened to lectures, facilitated roundtable discussions, connected with various editors and papers from across the state and attended the awards ceremony.

My favorite educational part was the editors’ roundtable discussion. This proved to be very educational and helpful because of the way in which we were all able to express our concerns and learn from each other. 

Although we are “competing” papers, every representative from each paper was willing to share their strategies and learning moments: it was a group of people who put their competition aside and wished to share ways in which we can all improve and bring the best news to our respective campuses.

Nevertheless, it still was a competition, and for the 2021 calendar year, we won 7 awards.

Allison Sherman ‘21, former editor-in-chief, won first place for column and editorial writing in the Under 5,000 Division. This is for her letter-from-the-editor, “Trust Issues.”

Rogland won second place for column or editorial writing in the Under 5,000 Division. This is for his article, “The Black and Gold Dilemma.”

I won third place for news reporting in the Under 5,000 Division. This is awarded for my article, “Critical Inception group visits Wofford for unexpected flat earth rally.”

Bennett Joyce, web designer, won second place for web design. Check out our website at woffordogb.com. 

Jill Hethcox won second and third place for specialty page design in the Under 5,000 Division. The first award was second place for Issue 4’s page 7. The second award was third place for Issue 3’s page 8. 

Anna Lee Hoffman, photographer and social media coordinator, won second place for social media usage. Follow along on Instagram at @oldgandb.

We have placed in some way every year in recent history at this awards ceremony.

It is with all of this that I would like to express immense gratitude to my staff and all of our readers. 

I am so proud of the work that each and every one of the staffers does to make this paper a reality.

I may be the “leader” of this, but, truly, this paper would not be a possibility if not for all of the parts working together so seamlessly. I am so thankful to have a staff who shares the same visions and goals of reporting quality and nonbiased news to the Wofford community.

I am also grateful to have such a dedicated readership because, if not for you reading this right now, there would be no reason to even publish; it is truly every member of the Wofford community that makes this paper a reality.

Please join me in congratulating our staff members on their well-deserved awards and thanking every contributor and member of our community in doing their part in making this paper what it is.