Nicole Daughhetee

GREENVILLE — For the second year in a row, Pickens County Courier Staff Reporter Nicole Daughhetee was honored recently with two awards at the South Carolina Press Association awards banquet in Greenville.

Daughhetee, who covers a wide variety of topics ranging from human interest feature stories to meetings of the School District of Pickens County’s board of trustees, received a third-place plaque in the Beat Reporting category for coverage of the Pickens County school board and a third-place plaque in the Faith Reporting category across all divisions of weekly newspapers in the state.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Nicole,” Courier editor Zack Mauldin said. “Although she’s in just her third year as a reporter, this makes four awards she has already won, and to be recognized amongst the top reporters in South Carolina is a huge honor.”

Publisher Rocky Nimmons echoed Mauldin’s sentiments.

“Nicole came to us three years ago as a polished writer with no reporting experience, but she has grown by leaps and bounds since joining our staff,” Nimmons said. “This recognition by her peers is just evidence of where she is today thanks to her hard work, diligence and professionalism.

“In the Courier’s nearly six years, we have been blessed to have multiple staff members win dozens of awards from the S.C. Press Association, and we’re so proud of Nicole for continuing that tradition.”

Mauldin said he is grateful to have a reporter like Daughhetee on his staff.

“Nicole does great things for us in this paper week in and week out, and the Courier would not be what it is without her perspective and professionalism,” he said. “We hear from our readers on a weekly basis that they think she’s doing a wonderful job, and there’s no higher praise you can receive as a reporter.”