The Southerner received multiple Superior and All-Georgia ratings from the Georgia Scholastic Press Association at the 2021 Spring Awards Ceremony. 25 different publications and 525 individual entries were submitted across the state. The Southerner Online was rated All-Georgia, the state’s top website. Multiple staff members were awarded All-Georgia ratings, GSPA’s top honor, for their work. Dana Richie, Elena Hubert, Kamryn Harty and Ava Smith earned an All-Georgia Award in the Podcast category. Kelly Tran, Yei Bin Andrews, Ava Smith and Aran Sonnad-Joshi earned an All-Georgia Award in the Feature Story category. Ava Smith received an All-Georgia Award in the Sports Feature category. Lindsay Ruhl earned the All-Georgia Award for Social Media Breaking News Coverage.

Many staff members picked up Superior ratings including:

Ava Smith for In-Depth News Story

Ellie Winer for Feature Story

Elena Hubert for Feature Profile

Anna Rachwalski for Editorial Cartoon

Will Randall for Sports Feature

Kaitlin Palaian, Elias Podber for Sports Game Coverage and Sports News Story

Bram Mansbach for Sports Column