The N.C. Press Association recently recognized Carolina Journal’s excellence with three awards. Carolina Journal Online won first-place honors in NCPA’s annual competition for Election/Political Reporting and Editorials. CJ also collected a third-place award for News Enterprise Reporting. Editor-in-Chief Rick Henderson discusses the awards and their significance for Carolina Journal’s work. Thirty years have passed since then-U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett put forward a theory that increased student aid from the federal government drives up the cost of college tuition. President Jenna Robinson of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal recently reviewed what has come to be known as the Bennett hypothesis. Robinson investigated whether Bennett’s idea still holds true three decades later. The University of North Carolina system recently spent $250,000 as part of an effort to rebrand itself. President Margaret Spellings explained in a news conference why the system pursued a rebranding campaign. The next federal farm bill is bound to feature dubious subsidies. One person keeping an eye on that legislation is Daren Bakst, research fellow in agricultural policy for the Heritage Foundation. Bakst explains why the farm bill does much more than give a helping hand to struggling American farmers. He urges reform of the legislation. The candidate field is set for 2018 N.C. legislative elections. Most offices will be contested this year. Becki Gray, John Locke Foundation senior vice president, discusses interesting matchups, key legislative retirements, and the potential impact of this year’s electoral contests on control of the General Assembly.