The Charleston City Paper nabbed 18 awards for South Carolina newspaper excellence Friday with senior editor Herb Frazier winning a coveted “Best of the Best” in enterprise reporting on how the Dutch handle water and what Charleston can learn from them.
Frazier, a veteran Lowcountry reporter, also won first place for health beat reporting on stories about maternal deaths, mental health and drug overdoses. He won third place among all newspapers in South Carolina in the top prize for a single impactful story on the scourge of fentanyl overdose deaths. That story also won third best community service story among weekly newspapers.
“Herb’s four awards are a testament to the kind of quality journalism that the City Paper offers every week to readers across the Lowcountry,” editor and publisher Andy Brack said. “We’re proud of how he’s keeping readers informed on important issues impacting our communities.”
The City Paper also swept the cartoon category for newspapers of all sizes with Robert Ariail picking up first place for three cartoons in his weekly “Lowcountry” comic strip and longtime artist Steve Stegelin winning second for three of his cartoons.
The newspaper’s staff also won first place among all newspapers for its 2024 election coverage.
Other winners included:
Photography: Ashley Stanol, second and third place for personality photo or portrait; third place for pictorial. Brack won third place for spot news photo for large weekly newspapers.
Reporting: Jack O’Toole, second place for government beat reporting and second place for business beat reporting, both among large weeklies. Reporters Skyler Baldwin and Anna Garziera, third place for reporting-in-depth among large weeklies in stories related to the 2024 Charleston sales tax referendum; and the City Paper staff, third place for breaking news reporting among large weeklies for its coverage of Hurricane Debby.
Reviews: Maura Hogan won second place among all newspapers in the state for a portfolio of reviews of the Charleston arts scene.
Editorials: The newspaper won second place among all weekly newspapers for editorial writing related to education indoctrination, Medicaid expansion and tree butchery as well as second place for opinion writing related to open government and the Charleston County school board.
Awards were presented Friday at the annual meeting of the South Carolina Press Association in Columbia.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.