For the third year in a row, The Hatchet won the Society of Professional Journalists’ award for regional best non-daily college newspaper at the organization’s awards conference Saturday.

The Hatchet and its staffers won a total of 13 Mark of Excellence awards, including seven first-place awards, in the mid-Atlantic region that includes college publications in D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware and Virginia. There are 11 SPJ regions.

“It’s a tremendous achievement,” senior Michael Barnett, the newspaper’s editor in chief, said. “It’s especially special for those staffers who won for the first time.”

First place winners, who advance to the national competition, are opinions editor Kyle Spector, who won for general column writing; senior news editor Ryan Holeywell and Barnett, who won for breaking news reporting; former assistant news editor Marissa Levy, who won for general news reporting; senior staff photographer Jeff Baum, who won for breaking news photography; photo editor Sam Sherraden, who won for feature photography; and sports editor Jake Sherman, who won for online sports reporting.

Nationwide winners will be named at the SPJ’s convention Aug. 24 to 27 in Chicago. In 2004, The Hatchet was named the best non-daily newspaper in the country. Last year, it was one of three finalists for the award. Also in 2005, The Hatchet was one of about 20 winners of the Associated Collegiate Press’ Pacemaker award.

-Ryan Holeywell