The Society of Professional Journalists honored The Hatchet as the best non-daily student newspaper in the Mid-Atlantic region at its annual convention last week in Lexington, Va.

Washington and Lee University hosted the awards ceremony, and of The Hatchet’s 15 awards, four were first place.

“It’s a testament to the staff that works hard to put out such a good product every week,” said Jake Sherman, The Hatchet’s editor in chief.

Sherman, a senior and former sports editor, led the paper with four awards. He took home a first place award in online sports reporting and a second place award in sports column writing. Former sports editor Andrew Alberg also won a first place award in online sports reporting, which he shared with Sherman.

“We love to see awards,” Sherman said, “But we (also) move on and go forward and keep working hard.”

The Hatchet’s editorial board won first place for staff editorials, while second and third place honors went to members of The Hatchet’s news, Web and photo departments.

Hatchet Senior Editor David Ceasar said he was “legitimately surprised” to learn that he had won his first first-place Mark of Excellence Award for column writing. Last year Ceasar won three second and third place awards for news writing.

The Hatchet’s first place winners will move on to the Society of Professional Journalist’s national competition where all 12 of the nation’s SPJ regions will compete against one another. SPJ will announce the winners in May.

Juniors Vishal Aswani and Adam Rosenbloom won second place for radio sports reporting. Josh Meredith, an alumnus, won second place for his online sports columns on DailyColonial.com.