The Sun News garners 30 accolades from the South Carolina Press Association

The Sun News has garnered several awards and recognition — including 11 first-place finishes — for its journalism as the South Carolina Press Association recently released its full list of 2019 News Contest Winners.

As a staff, TSN was awarded first place for its breaking news coverage of Hurricane Dorian, third place for its website (MyrtleBeachOnline.com) and second in general excellence for its circulation division.

Overall, The Sun News reporters and photographers garnered 30 individual top-three finishes — including 10 awards for first place. Below are the accolades the staff has received via the SCPA:

• Alex Lang and Carli Brosseau — second in investigative reporting for a story about how two mental health patients drowned in an Horry County Sheriff’s Office van during Hurricane Florence.
• Alex Lang — third place in cops/courts beat reporting.
• Tyler Fleming — third in government beat reporting while covering Horry County Council.
• David Wetzel — third in business beat reporting, highlighted by a story about Myrtle Beach’s Wahlburgers using supermarket ingredients and bouncing employees’ checks as the restaurant struggled before being taken over by corporate and first in sports feature for a story on Midway Park’s basketball courts, where many well-known names have made appearances over the years.
• David Weissman — first in education beat reporting for coverage of Horry County Schools.
• Alan Blondin — first in sports enterprise reporting for a story about how Waccamaw High School and its community dealt with the suicides of two football players.
• Jason Lee — third for general news photo (Santee Cooper contractors plant trees at the old Lake Busbee site), first for personality photograph or portrait (Tobacco History Day at L.W. Paul Living History Farm), first for photo series or photo story (Tobacco History Day at L.W. Paul Living History Farm), second for photo series or photo story (Hurricane Dorian), third for photo series or photo story (Harbor Seal showed up on local beaches), second for pictorial (Monarch butterfly hovers above the Great Pee Dee River), second for news video (Santee Cooper contractors plant trees at the old Lake Busbee site), news video (Democratic presidential candidates visit Galivants Ferry), feature video (Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge), second for feature video (Myrtle Beach Therapeutic Riding and Vaulting Club), first for sports video (How Waccamaw High School and its community dealt with the suicides of two football players) and third for sports video (CNB Kickoff Classic in slow motion).
• Josh Bell — first in news feature writing for a piece on local animal control man Russell Cavender, also known as “The Snake Chaser,” first for feature photo (St. Patrick’s Day parade), second for feature photo (Robinson’s Racing Pigs at the Horry County Fair), second for sports action photo (Coastal Carolina golf), first for sports feature photo (National anthem at Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ game), second for personality photograph or portrait (Suck Bang Blow during Myrtle Beach Harley Week) and third for humorous photo (Staring contest between a man and a llama at the Horry County Fair).
• Anna Young — first for humorous photo (A biker and his dog ride during Myrtle Beach Harley Week).