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Imam Omar ben Sayed Gadio holds a painting of his father, Omar ben Sayed, at his home in Gababe, Senegal. Omar is a familiar name throughout Futa Toro, including El Hadj Omar Tall, a revered Muslim leader. File/Gavin McIntyre/Staff

The Post and Courier earned eight awards, including five first-place finishes, in a national features journalism contest with stories about the search for an enslaved Muslim scholar's true history, the connections between Greenland and Charleston brought on by climate change, and Charleston's renowned food scene. It was the second-best showing for a newspaper with a circulation under 90,000.

The Society for Features Journalism honors the nation’s best storytelling and design work. The Post and Courier had the second-highest total of awards in its division, finishing just behind The (Colorado Springs) Gazette.

Senior reporter Jennifer Berry Hawes took home three first-place awards:

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Jennifer Berry Hawes. File/Grace Beahm Alford/Staff

For the third year in a row, Hawes won best feature writing portfolio for three narrative stories that chronicled the legacy of Omar ibn Said, a Muslim scholar enslaved in the Carolinas; a woman's fight against Harvard University over rights to nude images of her enslaved ancestors in South Carolina; and the journey of two women — one White, one Black — who confront the past together after growing up in the Palmetto State's separate and unequal worlds. The judges said Hawes' stories "fill in missing parts of a troubled history, told with grace, care and strong narrative writing."

Hawes won first place in the general feature category and in the diversity in digital features category for her work on the Omar project, which took her and photographer Gavin McIntyre on a journey from Charleston to Senegal in search of Said's true identity. The judges described the work as "incredibly ambitious and truly riveting," saying it was "a remarkable piece that keeps the reader enrapt as the narrative moves across continents and throughout history."

Hawes also won a second-place award in narrative storytelling for her story on the journey of a pregnant woman who almost died from COVID-19

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Tony Bartelme. File/Staff

Senior reporter Tony Bartelme and photographer Lauren Petracca were awarded first place in the feature series or project category for “The Greenland Connection,” in which they explored the connection between the melting ice caps in Greenland and how these events are directly impacting rising waters in Charleston. The judges said, "From hiking onto a melting ice sheet to flying with NASA scientists, Tony Bartelme and Lauren Petracca went above and beyond to tell a story we all need to read and see (the photos are breathtaking).”

Former food editor Hanna Raskin won best food writing portfolio for stories on calls for a reassessment of the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, a Charleston hospitality staffing app that was mixing up the labor market and an unpublished 1936 guide to Black life in Charleston that revealed the city’s first restaurant critic. The judges said the "trio of entries embodies the best of what food writing can be." Raskin also won a third-place award in the food feature category for her story on the 1936 guide. 

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Maura Hogan. File/David Mandel Photography/Provided

Arts critic Maura Hogan received an honorable mention for her arts and entertainment commentary portfolio for a series of three columns she wrote. 

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