COLUMBIA — Andrew Wigger, a staff writer for The Newberry Observer, collected two awards from the S.C. Press Association this past weekend during the annual awards luncheon that brought staff from the state’s best weekly papers together.
Wigger won first place in the 2-3 Times Weekly Division for Sports Enterprise Reporting for “College ready to begin bidding,” a story he wrote last year after the Confederate Flag was removed from the Capital grounds in Columbia.
The story detailed how removal of the flag would be a boon for Newberry College in its bids for post-season NCAA athletic events, something the college had not been able to do for years due to backlash from the Confederate Flag’s presence in Columbia.
The judges comments were: “Very thorough and interesting. You left no questions unanswered and you kept the readers attention while doing so.”
Patricia Edwards, publisher of The Observer, expressed how proud she was of Wigger for the award.
“That story gave the community an idea of what the removal of the Confederate flag could mean for us locally, and that it was something positive was even more reason to do the story,” she said. “Andrew did a great job of researching the article and the folks at Newberry College were very helpful to him, providing him with great information and quotes to make a well-rounded story.”
Wigger also won Second Place in the 2-3 Times Weekly Division for Column Writing for three columns — “A five year road to here and now,” “Time flies in one year” and “Older parent made me who I am.”
First place in 2-3 Times Weekly Division for Column Writing category was swept by Kasie Strickland for three columns that appeared in The Easley Progress, a sister paper to The Observer, titled “Everyone remembers where they were,” “When not knowing is the hardest to endure” and “No gender issues here with my son and his doll.”
The judges’ comments lauded Strickland for her personal columns, saying that “Personal columns that keep one reading — column on autism especially well done. Nice work!”
Strickland also was given the Best of the Best for the columns.
Strickland also placed third in the Humor Column Writing category of the 2-3 Times Weekly Division for three columns that appeared in The Easley Progress: “Chocolate sprinkles have been officially banned from my house,” “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” and “Time to take down the Michigan State flag.”
David Moody won second place in the Weekly Under 4,500 Division for three columns that appeared in The Pickens Sentinel: “Genetics can’t lie,” “Be kind to those around you” and “Goodbye not an easy road.” The Sentinel is also a sister paper to The Observer.
Edwards won an Honorable Mention in the Profile Feature Writing category for her story on George Epting of Newberry, a decorated World War II veteran who was presented with a Quilt of Valor last year.