People-Sentinel journalists earn 13 State Press awards

The People-Sentinel took home 13 awards from the S.C. Press Association’s 2025 news contest.

Publisher Jonathan Vickery and reporter Stephanie Shaver attended SCPA’s awards lunch on March 6 in Columbia, joining journalists from across the state to accept some of the hundreds of awards for impactful writing, photos and page design.

“It’s always nice to be recognized for our work, though that’s not why we do our jobs. We work hard every day so we can keep our community informed so they can know what’s happening and be better informed to make decisions. However, these awards certainly reinforce that we are doing important work and motivate us to keep being watchdogs for our community,” Vickery said.

The People-Sentinel took home five 1st place awards, three 2nd place awards, and five 3rd place awards.

Shaver, who joined the newspaper in February 2025, earned her first two SCPA awards, including 1st place in the Short Story category for a story on Williston’s Baylee Hunt-Dyches and her pinwheel display.

“I am very proud of the work Stephanie is doing. After moving to Barnwell County last year, she quickly hit the ground running to keep the community informed on the important issues,” said Vickery. 

Shaver and Vickery also won a joint 1st place award for Breaking News Reporting on personnel issues at the Blackville Police Department.

“Facts such as these are the responsibility of the press to bring forward to spur solutions by public officials and for the public to understand,” wrote the judge.

In addition to the joint award, Vickery won eight individual awards:

• A sweep of all three awards in the Humorous Photo category
• 1st Place in Obituary Writing for a tribute to the late Vivian Alston, a former Blackville town councilwoman and community helper. “Wonderful tribute. I felt as though I knew her after reading,” wrote the judge.
• 2nd Place in Education Beat Reporting for stories on the Barnwell County School District.
• 3rd Place for News Feature Writing on a resident saving two injured goslings at Lake Brown.
• 3rd Place for Profile Feature Writing on Mrs. Doreatha Gillis-Bishop’s 110th birthday.
• 3rd Place for Feature Headline Writing

Former reporter Alexandra Whitbeck won two awards, including 2nd place for Reporting In-Depth on the disappearance of Michael Still and 3rd place for Editorial or Column in Support of FOI or Open Government Issues.

Former reporter/Report for America corps member Elijah de Castro won a 1st place award for Enterprise Reporting for a story on precision agriculture. This story was also awarded Best of the Best.

“Our team is honored to serve our community and keep everyone informed!” said Vickery, who encourages the community to continue supporting the locally-owned newspaper.

Several other Barnwell County natives who now work for newspapers in other parts of the state were also recognized for their work.

Caleb Bozard (left), a Barnwell native who works as a reporter for The Post & Courier Columbia/Free Times, is presented an award for Government Reporting by Jen Madden (right), co-executive director of the S.C. Press Association on March 6 during an awards luncheon in Columbia.

Jonathan Vickery / Publisher

Michael Lollis, another Barnwell native, earned a 1st place award for Feature Photo. He works for The Journal in Williamston.

Also at the SCPA meeting and awards lunch was Williston native Seanna Adcox. She is editor of the S.C. Daily Gazette, a digital newspaper, which won 12 awards.