Staffers on the Southerner received awards from the National Scholastic Press Association for 2021 individual competitions. Editor-in-Chief Ava Smith placed second in the sports story of the year award for her story, “Grady Stadium renamed in remembrance of Eddie S. Henderson.” Editor-in-Chief Anna Rachwalski received an honorable mention for in the editorial cartoon of the year award for her cartoon accompanying the story “Trump administration seeks to rewrite history with ‘1776 Commission’“. Former Editor-in-Chief Dana Richie received an honorable mention for podcast of the year for her podcast “Chaos at the Capitol.”