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Your connection to industry & member news | July 16, 2026
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| Congrats 2026 PALMY Ad Award winners!
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 | Best of Show Division J winner: Christina Bailey and Ashley Smith of Charleston City Paper
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|  | Best of Show Division K winner: Jan Marvin and Patrick Villegas of The Daniel Island News
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|  | Best of Show Division L winner: Bethany Long of Mount Pleasant Magazine
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Best Overall:The President's Awards for Best Overall Advertising go to Pickens County Courier and The Journal of Seneca. These top honors are presented to one weekly and one daily newspaper based on number and ranking of awards won, regardless of circulation. The Journal is a repeat winner! Designer of the Year:Congratulations to Patricia Chavarin of The (Seneca) Journal on being named Advertising Designer of the Year. Judges said, "Beautiful portfolio that demonstrates designers creativity, knowledge and skills. Each ad was thoughtfully designed and uniquely catered to each advertising client. Ads offer effective messaging, clear calls to action, and standout selection of fonts, art and colors."
Best of Show:All first place PALMY winners were judged by circulation division to award a "Best of Show" honor.
The winner in Division J is by Christina Bailey and Ashley Smith of Charleston City Paper for the Pho Saigon ad.
Best of Show winner in Division K goes to Jan Marvin and Patrick Villegas of The Daniel Island News for the The Joyful Florist ad.
In Division L, Best of Show is presented to Bethany Long of Mount Pleasant Magazine for Timme Spanos of Carolina One Real Estate.
Awards:Plaques and certificates will be heading out in the mail next week unless you'd like us to come present your awards in person. Thanks to everyone who participated in this years PALMY Contest and to members of Virginia Press Association for judging this special contest!
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Patricia Chavarin of The (Seneca) Journal is SCPA's 2026 Designer of the Year! Above are three ads from her portfolio.
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SCPA to host editors roundtable on Aug. 7Member editors are invited to attend SCPA's annual editors roundtable on Aug. 7 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. at SCPA Offices in Columbia.
This will be a great time to meet with your peers to discuss topics including: FOI issues, motivating and training staff, special projects, multimedia reporting, social media, stories that get traction and more. We’ll also have plenty of time for open discussion.
This event is open to SCPA member daily, weekly, monthly and online news organization editors. The cost to attend is $30 which includes lunch. Special thanks to the SCPA Foundation Smoak Fund for sponsoring this event.
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 | By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications
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SC podcaster fined for contempt for missing deposition On July 13, Common Pleas Judge R. Keith Kelly ordered journalist and podcaster Mandy Matney to pay a total of $176,500 for her failure to appear at a March 27 deposition in a case stemming from the 2019 death of Mallory Beach, part of the Murdaugh family saga.
Matney was subpoenaed in a lawsuit brought by Beach’s family against convenience store owner Greg Parker over his vigorous defense of an earlier wrongful death lawsuit brought by the Beach family against his company, which allegedly sold alcohol to Paul Murdaugh before he piloted a boat that hit the pilings of a bridge in Beaufort, causing Mallory Beach’s death. Paul Murdaugh was later found dead, with his father Alex Murdaugh convicted of the murder: a conviction that was overturned and is awaiting retrial. The deposition was to question Matney regarding the public leak of a video produced for the mediation in the original lawsuit against Parker’s company. The video included police photos of Beach’s body. I’ve previously covered this case here, here and here. Read more
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SCPA members celebrate 250 years of America
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The Post and Courier wins Collier Spotlight quarterly journalism award
The spring Collier Spotlight award, a quarterly certificate recognizing groundbreaking reporting on state government institutions, is awarded to The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, for its investigation of the treatment of the mentally ill in state prisons and jails.
The five-part series, “Caught in the Cycle,” revealed that more than 100 people with mental illness have died while incarcerated in South Carolina jails, and some were held pre-trial for months longer than the maximum sentence for their crimes.
To document the issue, the reporting team obtained and examined the psychiatric evaluations of more than 200 Charleston County defendants awaiting trial over the past 15 years.
To quote from the story, “The team’s review of these records opened an unexpected window into a dysfunctional, costly and, at times, inhumane system whose failings are normally kept hidden from the public.”
One Collier Spotlight juror said this project “represented an enormous undertaking by the journalists, who were able to take advantage of access to psychiatric evaluations of inmates that the courts mistakenly left available to the public. Inmates’ stories were in many cases heartbreaking, and the journalists wisely also showed how victims also are affected by this failure to deal with mental illness among prisoners.’’
From The Collier Prize | Read more
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Clemson’s presidential do-over prompts new questions about search transparency and state law
Clemson’s quick pivot to a new university president three days after its original choice bowed out has renewed questions about secretive search processes and adherence with state law regarding such hires.
Benjamin Ayers, the University of Georgia provost whom trustees selected as president July 9, was not among the three candidates disclosed as finalists in May after Clemson initially selected Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz — a national figure in higher education who had previously led two top research universities.
Along with Guskiewicz, Clemson officials identified the other finalists as two deans already running colleges on its campus: Cynthia Young and Anand Gramopadhye.
The S.C. Freedom of Information Act does not preclude secrecy in the process, though it does require a measure of transparency in the end: Public bodies, such as boards of taxpayer-funded universities, must release information and materials about no fewer than three final applicants considered for a public position.
Until his hire was announced, Ayers wasn’t publicly known to be a candidate at all. A Clemson spokesman says he had been a highly regarded candidate from early on, before he removed himself from contention for an unspecified reason.
By Ian Grenier and Anna B. Mitchell, The Post and Courier | Read more
Related Editorial: Clemson’s chicanery gives Legislature another reason to amend search law. (From The Post and Courier)
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During a possibly improper executive meeting, Blythewood Town Council votes for mayor to switch offices
Blythewood town council members and their attorney, Pete Balthazar, who advises them, participated in an executive session at the end of [the June 22] council meeting that Media Attorney Jay Bender says may have been improper.
At issue is whether or not council members discussed issues behind closed doors that were outside what state law allows, including an order to move Mayor Sloan Griffin out of his current office into another office in town hall.
Reacting to the order the next day, Tuesday, Mayor Griffin posted an AI graphic of himself moving boxes out of his office, saying that the council had voted to put him out of town hall.
In an email later that same day to The Voice, Mayor Pro Tem Andrea Fripp said the motion that was passed established policy for all members of council, not just the mayor.
“All council members must abide by certain rules,” Fripp wrote. “Under the new council-manager form of government, the Town Manager is the Chief Executive Officer and now assumes many of the duties that were once held by the mayor under the mayor-council (strong mayor) form of government.
“The fact is, the mayor walked out of executive session and left the regularly scheduled meeting. He was never asked to vacate Town Hall nor was that discussed.”
By Barbara Ball, The Voice of Bylthewood & Fairfield County | Read more
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Judge hits SC podcaster Mandy Matney with $176,500 in costs and a fine for contempt
South Carolina Judge Keith Kelly has found SC podcaster Mandy Matney in contempt for court for her resisting to sit for a court-ordered deposition and slapped a hefty financial punishment — $171,500 in lawyers’ fees and a $5,000 fine — on her.
The $171,500 in lawyer’s fees will go to three law firms who sought her testimony in an ongoing civil court lawsuit. Matney is not a party to the lawsuit, but the lawyers said they believed Matney might have information they needed. Matney has since given a deposition.
”That is a whopping amount,” said one of several Columbia area lawyers surprised by the size of the amount who didn’t want to be quoted by name. They couldn’t recall any similar court-ordered financial penalties ever in South Carolina for people who defy subpoenas to give a deposition.
In his 22-page order filed Monday, Judge Kelly said he could find no good reason why Matney did not show up for her deposition earlier this year in Bluffton in Beaufort County.
By John Monk, The State | Read more
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Scoppe: SC budget negotiations showcase secrecy, charades, possibly plausible deniability
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‘Secret meetings’ by Beaufort council bothers residents. ‘I’m really tired of it’
Private, closed-door discussions among Beaufort City Council members during public meetings have been the norm so far this year, not the exception to the rule of openness.
The lack of transparency is increasingly getting on the nerves of residents. Even the city’s mayor says he’s had enough.
“Executive sessions” have come at nearly every public meeting the city council has conducted in 2026. They routinely involve discussions of sensitive and sometimes politically charged legal, personnel and economic issues.
It’s not illegal to shut the public out of certain discussions, as long as the closures are properly announced with specific descriptions of the topic so the public knows what’s going on.
But distrust from residents is mounting over the number of these closed meetings and the lack of information on the agendas explaining the context, leaving residents in the dark.
“There’s just not enough of a description of what’s going to go on,” Paul Trask, a resident and developer, told council members Tuesday, looking at the agenda and the items listed under “executive session.”
By Karl Puckett, The Island Packet | Read more
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Hidden study casts doubt on need for nuclear weapons factories in SC, NM, critics say
The federal government is being accused of withholding a key report that could shed light on whether the United States needs to build nuclear weapons factories in South Carolina and New Mexico.
Four environmental groups are calling for the release of the study that examines the life span of plutonium pits, the central cores of nuclear weapons that could be used to defend the country. The government says the existing pit stockpile is getting old and needs replacement, but critics say past studies have suggested otherwise.
That’s why releasing the report could answer important questions in the ongoing debate over construction of pit production plants at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, environmentalists say.
By Sammy Fretwell, The State | Read more
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NNA invites SCPA members to join broad mailing industry letter to HSGAC
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) hearing on USPS reform fell short of expectations for those hoping to see a serious discussion about the future of the nation's mail system. While committee members raised legitimate concerns about USPS finances and service performance, much of the hearing focused on symptoms rather than the underlying structural challenges facing the Postal Service.
A letter to the HSGAC on behalf of USPS customers is now being circulated with the goal of securing signatures from as many individual mailers as possible. It is important that the committee and its leadership understand the breadth of the USPS customer base and the critical role reliable mail service plays for businesses and communities across the country.
Here's the form to sign on no later than July 17 at 5 p.m.
From National Newspaper Association | Read more
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 | By Jim Pumarlo, Newspaper Consultant
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Prepping new staff key to substantive content
Attractive design in print and digital editions is all-important in today’s fractured media landscape. Attention to specific elements is requisite to create a functional, easy-to-read layout that balances text, images and white space to guide readers.
I admittedly was the “word” guy when sitting behind the editor’s desk. Others more talented in layout handled those responsibilities. Today, in the training business, I also defer to experts such as News Guru Kevin Slimp for guidance on effective and useful design.
That said, I’ll never abandon the premise that even the most compelling blueprint rings hollow without substantive content. Shrinking resources and remote newsrooms challenge newspapers to generate stories that connect with readers. It’s more important than ever today to connect – in some cases, reconnect – with your communities.
The task is much steeper in today’s environment. Every newsroom will identify ways to keep in sync with readers. I offer one common denominator for all: Ensure reporters have a thorough orientation. Read more
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