The Baptist Courier received seven awards from the South Carolina Press Association, recognizing work published by the South Carolina Baptist news magazine in 2020.

The magazine won first-place awards in the SCPA’s Associate and Individual Division in three categories: Faith Reporting, Page One Design, and Feature Photo. 

The top entries were “Glovers: Being Thankful, Even When It’s Difficult,” featuring Brent and Courtney Glover of Boiling Springs, by Managing Editor Todd Deaton, in the Faith Reporting category; the November 2020 cover, featuring Brent Glover’s father, Rick Glover, and his granddaughter, Charlotte, high-fiving Brent though a hospital window, in the Cover Design category; and a feature photo of Col. Greg Woodbury praying with a patient that accompanied the feature story, “Military Command Chaplain Embraces Care of Troops, Love of Country During Career of Service,” by Todd Deaton, in the July 2020 issue.

The Courier also received the following awards:

• Cover Design: second place, Candace Rathbone and staff, for the Courier’s August 2020 issue, which featured a man contemplating the growing uneasiness of “Where Do We Go From Here?” caused by a global pandemic, increasing racial tension, Supreme Court decisions, a contentious election year, and struggling economy; and third place for the September 2020 issue, which featured an ER nurse at an area hospital taking a patient’s temperature with a forehead thermometer in screening for COVID-19.

• Feature Page Design: second place, Candace Rathbone and staff, for the August 2020 issue, which featured a graphic for the “Where Do We Go From Here?” story by Editor Rudy Gray; and third place for the September 2020 issue, which featured a graphic for the “Prayer of a Pandemician” poem by Dondi Costin, president of Charleston Southern University.