By Mike McCombs
The Island News
Continuing a run of six successful years, The Island News took home 18 awards at the 2025 South Carolina Press Association awards luncheon Friday, April 4, 2025 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
“It’s always hugely gratifying to be recognized by your peers,” The Island News Publisher Jeff Evans said. “The Island News has a smaller staff than almost any other news weekly in South Carolina and for us to win the number of awards we do is a testament to the quality and professionalism of that staff. I couldn’t be more proud of them or more grateful to the Beaufort Community that has embraced us.”
The Island News generally competes in Category D, reserved for the largest weekly newspapers.
Editor Mike McCombs and Assistant Editor Delayna Earley each won two first-place awards. They shared the top award in the Short Story category for their coverage of a boat that crashed through the window of the Waffle House in Port Royal.
Earley added a first-place award in Government Reporting, while McCombs won an Open Weekly Division first-place award for Sports Headline Writing. Earley added a second-place award for Enterprise Reporting, and McCombs won second place in the Short Story category.
Page designer Hope Shreve and longtime photographer Bob Sofaly each brought home five awards.
Shreve swept first, second and third place in the Sports Page Design category and took second and third place in the Page One Design Category.
Sofaly took first and second place in the Sports Action Photo category. He claimed two more second-place awards in the Pictorial and Spot News Photo categories and a third-place nod in the Humorous Photo category.
Wes Kerr repeated as the first-place winner in the Spot Sports Story category, and a year after his first-place win, Terry Manning won third place in Column Writing.
Photographer Amber Hewitt earned her first SCPA honor with a third-place win in the Feature Photo category.
Lowcountry Weekly wins 2
Lowcountry Weekly, sister publication to The Island News and also published by Jeff and Margaret Evans, won two awards.
Competing in the same category as The Island News, Margaret Evans won second-place awards in Column Writing and Arts & Entertainment Writing.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
