Panther editor is SC Collegiate Journalist of Year
By:
Apr 13, 2024
![](/images/default-source/about/2024-ty-working-on-panther.jpeg?Status=Master&sfvrsn=3e42090e_1)
Ty Williams designs Panther pages.
Tyuanna “Ty” Williams, editor of ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ University’s student
newspaper, The Panther, on April 12 received the South Carolina Press
Association Collegiate Division’s highest individual honor, S.C.
Collegiate Journalist of the Year for colleges and universities with
under 5,000 enrollment.
Williams, who became the seventh Panther
journalist to win the award since 2014, an unprecedented run, will be
known in her senior year at ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ as The Panther editor deciding to
return to a print edition at a time when most newspapers are focused on
online publication.
Her plan: Continue emphasis on the virtual but
open up students’ horizons and provide a new way for the world to get
student-produced ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ news.
The result: A return of The Panther
in a newsletter/newspaper format, with Williams taking the lead in
producing the “print Panther” pages, seeing that they are printed and
distributed, and making the print format in PDF form available via email
to students, faculty, administration and alumni.
Beyond the role
as editor, Williams has been active in the field, taking on assignments
and reporting key stories such as a ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ instructor being elected to
Orangeburg City Council, students attending the D.C. observance of MLK’s
“Dream” speech, students operating their own businesses, ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ’s
president focusing on improving Orangeburg, a pandemic expert talking
vaccines and masks, and student government leaders identifying
priorities.
Williams broadened her journalist horizons in 2023 by
spending three months as a reporter/intern at The Times and Democrat,
for which she continues to report periodically.
Her T&D work
includes an FOIA project, "How transparent are state, local
governments?"; stories from business to police and councils, plus topics
as diverse as Juneteenth, the Civil Air Patrol, restoration of the
historic bowling alley tied to the Orangeburg Massacre, honors for
internationally acclaimed artist Leo Twiggs, an Orangeburg native in
Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” and the decline in South Carolina’s wild
turkey population.
A ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ senior graduating in May, Williams is
currently enrolled in the 4+1 program with ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ and the University
of South Carolina. The program allows her to take graduate courses
toward a degree.
From Gilbert, she is a senior mass communications major, double
minoring in Spanish and African American Studies. She is a member of
the Alice Carson Tisdale Honors College, an NBCU scholar, a ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ
career ambassador and member of the NAACP.
Other former ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ student journalists winning the award as S.C. journalist of the year/under 5,000 are:
2021 – Jaliah Robinson
2020 -- Marcus Hamilton
2018 – Olanma Hazel Mang
2017 – Bradley Harris
2015 – Andres Waters
2014 – Princess Williams
The Panther was presented other awards by SCPA on Friday:
- Ty Williams, second place, General Excellence, for The Panther's September, October and November print editions.
- Damaia
Davis, Panther editor for the 2024-25 year, second place, Photograph,
for her image of Keith Shoates, chief operation officer of Student
Freedom Initiative, speaking during a forum at ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ. Damaia is from Ladson.
- Ty
Williams, third place, Photograph, for her image of journalist and
commentator Roland Martin speaking with ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ students. He was at
ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ as part of the Hilltop Lecture Series for Black History Month in
2023.
The SCPA Collegiate Division meeting during which the awards were presented was held at Winthrop University in Rock Hill.
![](/images/default-source/about/scpa-awards.jpg?Status=Master&sfvrsn=5f45090e_1)
Award winners Ty Williams, left, and Damaia Davis with Panther adviser Lee Harter at the SCPA Collegiate Division meeting at Winthrop University on April 12, 2024.
![](/images/default-source/about/damaia-davis-photo-award2cdb14ce-4dd4-40ab-8047-f17c2e1a0afa.jpg?Status=Master&sfvrsn=f942090e_1)
Keith Shoates, chief operation officer of Student Freedom Initiative,
speaks during a forum at ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ University in November 2023. Damaia
Davis’ photograph earned second place for Photograph in the S.C. Press
Association’s Collegiate Division journalistic excellence contest for
2023.
![](/images/default-source/about/ty-williams-contest.jpg?Status=Master&sfvrsn=8242090e_1)
Journalist and commentator Roland Martin speaks with ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ
University students in February 2023. He was at ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ as part of the
Hilltop Lecture Series for Black History Month. Ty Williams’ image
earned third place for Photograph in the S.C. Press Association’s
Collegiate Division journalistic excellence contest for 2023.