The Manning Times picked up seven awards Saturday at the South Carolina Press Association's annual meeting, with former editor Robert Joseph Baker receiving two first place, two second place and three third place honors.
Baker has been with the Times since October 2013, and has nearly 16 years' experience in journalism. He is currently a part-time staff writer, having reduced his hours in December 2016 due to peritoneal dialysis treatments for end-stage renal disease.
He took prizes in two beat reporting categories, with a first place plaque in Education Beat Reporting for the weekly division, and third for Government Beat Reporting for the same division.
For the first place honor in Education Beat Reporting, the judges' comments state that his five submitted pieces were "well written."
"Reporter goes beyond school board meetings to talk about what's happening in classrooms that are affecting the community," the judges wrote.
He received a first-place award for Lifestyle Feature Writing for
"Community comes together in prayer," a story about an interfaith prayer meeting held at J.C. Britton Park last summer in the wake of several police shootings where both officers and young black men had been killed.
There, the judges commented that the "well-written piece (proved) love and compassion still exist."
He also received second place in the same category for a story
about former Manning Mayor Jerry Robertson's quirky habit of having saved his fingernail and toenail clippings for more than 40 years.
A second-place award was also given for Humor Column Writing in which Baker wrote about his fight with kidney disease, including
"An open letter to the Heinz ketchup people," and also about
his fear of crickets and about
his pet peeve of people sharing posts on social media in a blind attempt to make money.
He took two third place awards in writing categories. The first was for News Feature Writing for a story on
Blake Driggers' family working to educate the public on dangers in the lake and wearing nose plugs while swimming. The second was for the Short Story category for
"Woman says suspect threw sandwich, hit her in head."
