SPARTANBURG - The South Carolina Press Association on Friday was the latest to honor The Times and Democrat and TheTandD.com for coverage and other efforts surrounding the first-in-the-nation presidential debate in Orangeburg in April.

The 22 total state awards are complemented by five national and company honors presented to the newspaper for work in 2007.

The debate, which was televised by MSNBC, brought hundreds of media outlets to Orangeburg for an event featuring eight candidates. The T&D covered the event with a predebate Web site featuring quizzes and candidate profiles, a running log of events on debate day and a 12-page printed section of debate coverage on the morning after. On debate day, the newspaper sponsored a reception for media.

The SCPA honored the debate efforts with a first place for reporting-in-depth among newspapers with 26,000 and under circulation. The debate presentation earned third place for public service, and T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder captured a second-place award among personality photos for his image of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the debate afterparty at South Carolina State University.

In online categories, debate coverage won first place among all daily and weekly newspapers with less than 80,000 circulation in the category Best Online News Project.

Plus, TheTandD.com was named the best Web site among all South Carolina daily newspapers.

Judges said, "Clean design. Easy to navigate. Not overwhelmed with ornamentation. ... All major elements, including top-commented stories, are easily accessible."

Earlier, the Online News Association made the The Times and Democrat one of two national finalists in the "Breaking news - small sites" competition for TheTandD.com's debate coverage. Sponsored jointly by ONA and the Annenberg School for Communication at Southern California University, the award was presented to The Roanoke Times for coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. The annual competition featured winners in others categories including USA Today and ABC News.

Illinois-based Inland Press Association awarded the debate coverage third place in the explanatory reporting category sponsored by the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky.

And, as previously announced, the debate efforts were honored by T&D parent company Lee Enterprises in 2007 with a President's Award for innovation and an honorable mention for excellence in news. The awards are the top honors presented by the company each year.

For Community Leadership among newspapers with 10,000 to 25,000 subscribers, The Times and Democrat was honored with a first place by Inland Press Association in the competition sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Journalism. The entry centered around the newspaper's 125th anniversary celebration.

Judges wrote: "The Times and Democrat presented a good example of what community leadership should be over the years with their 125th anniversary edition and activities to commemorate the century and a quarter. ... They set out in the early planning stages of the milestone year to show the newspaper's commitment to the community and turned an anniversary observance into a project that served and benefitted the entire community."

In the S.C. Press Association contest, other T&D winners announced Friday at the SCPA Winter Meeting in Spartanburg were:

* First place -- Sports Copy Editor/Writer Travis Boland for sports headline writing. Boland also won third in the same category.

* First place -- Sports Editor Brian Linder for his photo of the South Carolina quarterback being sacked during the 2007 game with South Carolina State. The image was judged the best spot sports photo among all daily newspapers, being named "best of the best."

* First place -- T&D Features Designer Kristin Coker for best photo illustration. The "Down to one" image accompanied the preview of Clemson's appearance in the NIT final in 2007.

* Second place -- T&D Copy Editor/Staff Writer Lee Hendren for his reporting on the issues surrounding Orangeburg County Animal Control's euthanasia practices and treatment of animals.

* Second place -- T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker for "going beyond the police reports" in his coverage of the police beat.

* Second place -- T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant for coverage of the education beat, which includes local colleges and schools.

* Second place -- Linder for his sports enterprise reporting on a young pitcher's challenge after Tommy John surgery.

* Second place -- Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. for sports column writing.

* Second place -- T&D Photographer Chris Huff for his spot news photo of a warehouse smoldering after a cotton gin fire.

* Third place -- T&D City Editor Gene Crider for column writing.

* Third place -- Former T&D Special Assignments Writer Charlene Slaughter for her series of articles on the school desegregation issue in Calhoun County.

* Third place -- T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski for reporting-in-depth about Jafza International's plans to build a logistics megahub in Orangeburg County.

* Third place -- Zaleski for excellence in business reporting.

* Third place -- T&D Production Manager Jenny Spears for sports page design.

* Third place -- Crider, again for his columns, this time with a focus on humor.

* Third place -- Coker and Features Editor Wendy Jeffcoat Crider for design of features pages such as Sunday's Magazine section.

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