The Southerner received multiple Superior and All-Georgia ratings from the Georgia Scholastic Press Association in the 2019-2020 contest. Both the print newspaper and website as well as Nexus Magazine received Superior ratings, the highest honor in general excellence. The Southerner was rated All-Georgia, the state’s best overall newspaper. Several staff members were awarded All-Georgia ratings, GSPA’s top honor, for their work. Senior Katherine Esterl earned an All-Georgia rating in Feature Profile category, sophomore Sophia Maxim earned an All-Georgia rating for Social Media Storytelling, senior Charlotte Spears earned an All-Georgia rating in the Double-truck Layout/Design category, and senior Bram Mansbach earned an All-Georgia rating in the Sports Column category.

Many staff members picked up Superior ratings including:

Mills Rentz-Baker for Sports Game Coverage

Charlotte Spears for Sports News Story

Elias Podber, Kaitlin Palaian for Sports News Story

Anna Rachwalski for Commentary

Katherine Esterl, Kamryn Harty, Aaliyah Rapping, Kelly Tran for In-depth News Story

Charlotte Spears for In-depth News Story

Charlotte Spears, Royce Mann, George Lefkowicz for News Story

Tyler Jones for Photo Illustration

Kaitlin Palaian for Sports Column

Kaitlin Palaian,  Elias Podber for Sports Feature Story