Going head to head with the nation's largest media organizations, The Post and Courier earned a first-place award from the Society of Environmental Journalists for "Our Secret Delta," its deep look last year at threats to South Carolina's Santee Delta ecosystem.
The Society of Environmental Journalists contest is the world's largest and most comprehensive environmental journalism competition. An independent panel of judges awarded the newspaper first place in its "outstanding feature story" category.
Judges said: "Writers Tony Bartelme and Glenn Smith and photographer Lauren Petracca used lyrical physical description along with significant research to show how climate change and rising sea levels threaten a landscape of historical and economic significance to all South Carolinians." They described the entry as "gorgeously executed in the best tradition of storytelling."
Second place went to ABC News for its project "Guardians of the Amazon." Third place went to The New York Times Magazine for "The Culling." Honorable mention went to Latino USA, The Atlantic and Washington Post Magazine.
"Our Secret Delta" also earned national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for Features Journalism.
