The Columbia Scholastic Press Association named the winners of the 2010 Gold Circle Awards last… The Columbia Scholastic Press Association named the winners of the 2010 Gold Circle Awards last week, including 11 accolades for current and former Pitt News staff members.

All entries judged for this year’s contest were produced by student journalists between June 16, 2009 and June 15, 2010. The association employed a team of professional journalists and educators to judge each entry, according to its website.

Founded in 1925, the association works to guide student editors and faculty advisers producing student newspapers, magazines, yearbooks and online media.

In recent years, students across the country have submitted more than 13,000 entries annually among in than 240 categories.

The Pitt News submitted numerous entries earlier this year and received awards in the following categories:

Senior Staff Writer Julie Percha earned a certificate of merit in the category of in-depth reporting or feature story with her work, “Being a mall Santa has its perks.”

Former Assistant Opinions Editor David Beitzel took first place for editorial writing with “West unjustifiably paranoid of Islam.” Beitzel also took third in the category of editorial cartoons with an untitled work.

Columnist Molly Green received a certificate of merit in the category of off-campus personal opinion with her column, “Vaccinate against swine flights of fancy.”

Former A&E Editor Kieran Layton took second in the category of general or humor commentary with, “Dear Ke$ha, look how far you’ve come.”

Former Managing Editor Erik Hinton took the top prize in the category of sports cartoons with his rendition of Dante Taylor published on the cover of last year’s Pitt basketball preview special edition. Hinton also received a certificate of merit in the category of informational graphics portfolio of work.

Assistant Visual Editor Chris Neverman received a certificate of merit in the category of black-and-white photo story for his G-20 Summit-related work, “The smoke has yet to clear.”

Senior Staff Photographer Vaughn Wallace took first place in the category of photography portfolio of work. Wallace also shared top honors with Hinton in the category of single color image photo illustration for last year’s Sex edition cover.

Managing Editor Becky Reiser shared top honors with Hinton in the category of two or more colors informational graphics, for “Lager? I hardly know’er.”