2018 Panther editor is S.C. Collegiate Journalist of Year

Panther Editor Bradley Harris accepts the 2017 Collegiate Journalist of the Year award from S.C. Press Association Executive Director Bill Rogers during the collegiate conference at Winthrop University in Rock Hill on April 20, 2018. (S.C. Press Association photos)


Bradley Harris, editor of Claflin’s student newspaper The Panther, on Friday, April 20, 2018, was named the 2017 South Carolina Collegiate Journalist of the Year for colleges and universities with under 5,000 enrollment.

The Irmo native and Claflin senior received the award during the South Carolina Press Association’s 2018 Collegiate Meeting held at Winthrop University in Rock Hill. The honor is the highest award given by SCPA to a collegiate journalist.

The honor marks the third time in four years that a Panther editor and Claflin Mass Communications Department student has received the award. Princess Williams Gadson was the honoree in 2014 and Andres Waters earned the award for 2015.

All three also served as correspondents for The Times and Democrat while matriculating at Claflin. Gadson became a staff writer for The T&D after graduation, Waters writes periodically for the newspaper to this day, and Harris has recently joined the newspaper as a staff writer. Readers already have seen a number of his bylines on a variety of stories.

As a T&D correspondent for two years, Harris has covered sports and news as well as on-campus events at Claflin.

While busy on two journalistic fronts, the Dutch Fork High School graduate has maintained a solid academic record. He has been on the dean’s list since his freshman year and active on campus as a class senator in the Student Government Association, member of the Claflin Men 100 and public relations director for the Claflin chapter of the NAACP.

He has been active in the Orangeburg community as well, having been appointed to the foundation board of the BootStraps Mentoring Program in Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 and serving as a member of the communications team.



Bradley Harris speaks at Winthrop University on April 20 after being named S.C. Press Association Collegiate Journalist of the Year for colleges and universities with under 5,000 enrollment.



Bradley Harris was joined by his father, mother and brother at the Winthrop University conference.



Bradley Harris poses for a photo with SCPA Executive Director Bill Rogers, left, and Panther adviser Lee Harter, right.