The Collegian staff won a total of eight awards in the 2015 South Carolina Press Association’s Collegiate Annual News Contest, including third place for general excellence. The awards were announced at the annual collegiate meeting of the SCPA held April 8 in Aiken.

The SCPA recognizes the best in South Carolina collegiate journalism. Collegiate staff members have a chance to compete against other colleges in a total of 26 different contests, including writing, design, photography and illustration.

Competition for all contests takes place in two divisions: one for colleges with an undergraduate enrollment of 5,000 or more and another for those with undergraduate enrollment of less than 5,000. BJU competes in the latter division.

Entries are from January to December of 2015, not the academic year. Students may submit up to two entries in each category.

For the contest in general excellence, the staff submits two complete issues of their collegiate newspaper. The newspapers are judged on every aspect of journalism—content, writing, design, editing, headlines, use of photographs, editorial page quality and sports and lifestyles coverage.

The SCPA gives awards in first, second and third place to the winners of each contest. Recipients received their awards at the spring Collegiate Meeting and Awards Presentation at the University of South Carolina Aiken on Friday, April 8.

BJU added to its past wins in the general excellence contest by winning third place this year. Last year, The Collegian also won third place and second place the previous year.

“I’m proud of my staff and the work that they have put in this year,” editor Bethany Williams said. “Each person brings something different to the staff, and I’ve enjoyed working with every single person.”