The all-day meeting serves as a forum for newspaper staffs from South Carolina universities to learn from one another by collaborating in roundtable discussions and attending sessions led by professional journalists.
This year, the SCPA meeting featured more than 10 different sessions that discussed topics such as preparing for summer internships, writing good columns, social media management, journalistic ethics and leadership succession planning.
Stephanie Schmidt, a junior journalism and mass communication major and Collegian copy editor, said she found the meeting to be interesting, because the staff can learn from the work of other college newspapers. “It was also cool to hear from other professionals in the field and to be able to apply that information to what I’m doing now,” she said.
The roundtable discussions provided profitable feedback for senior graphic design major and layout editor Charis Marshall. She said it’s a good experience to learn how other staffs design their papers, and she learned by browsing through papers like Clemson’s The Tiger and USC’s Daily Gamecock.
“The roundtable discussions are one of my favorites as a designer, but the other sessions help me to better understand writers and journalism,” Marshall said.
The SCPA awards presentation concluded Friday’s meeting. The Collegian staff was honored in its division — universities with fewer than 5,000 students — with 12 awards: four first place awards, six second place awards, one third place award and one honorable mention.
Molly Waits, a senior humanities major and photo editor, won second place for a photo she took of the production of Cyrano de Bergerac last semester. She said she’s excited to be recognized by a professional organization for her work.
“Someone else is recognizing the work I put into something I’m really passionate about,” she said. “I loved it, and someone else loved it too.”
Members of The Collegian staff attended the South Carolina Press Association Collegiate Meeting Friday at Clemson University.