Brian Hicks, a native of Tennessee, joined The Post and Courier in 1997. He has covered Southern politics for more than 20 years, and his journalism has won more than two dozen awards, including the S.C. Press Association's Journalist of the Year in 1998. His column began appearing on the newspaper's website in 2007 and the print edition in 2008. Hicks' column has won a Green Eyeshade Award from the Society of Professional Journalists as well as Best Column and Best Humor Column honors from the S.C. Press Association. He is also author or co-author of four books, including the local history yarn "Raising the Hunley." His fifth book, "Toward the Setting Sun," was released in 2011. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/BriHicks_PandC

Melanie Balog is The Post and Courier's Digital Editor. She joined the paper in 2005 as an assistant city editor and was named web editor in 2008. Prior to that she spent 8 years as a reporter and news editor at The Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake, IL. In 2003 she received a first-place column award from the Illinois Press Association. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Millikin University in Decatur, IL and a master's degree in professional writing from Illinois State University, and has been an adjunct instructor at the College of Charleston.

Stephanie Harvin is community news editor for The Post and Courier and writes weekly columns for the Your Lowcountry sections. Her roots are in South Carolina — Sumter and Manning — although she grew up as an Air Force brat while her father pursued his medical career. She majored in archaeology and anthropology at the University of South Carolina until she decided she didn’t want to be digging dirt with a trowel. She joined The Post and Courier in 1978 and worked as an award-winning photographer for 16 years, covering such diverse subjects as sports, Spoleto Festival USA and the president. She became a reporter in 1994 covering fashion, style, the arts and design. She won writing awards in South Carolina and was honored by the Association of Sunday and Features Editors for her column writing. She moved to editing, and spent six years working with reporters on legislative, education and regional issues. Email her at sharvin@postandcourier.com. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/sharvin101 or on Facebook at Stephanie Harvin, writer.

David Slade writes a personal finance column aimed at helping average folks save money, often with tips about government tax policies. He also covers Charleston city and county governments. Slade has been a newspaper reporter since 1992 and has won numerous state and national awards for his reporting on property taxation and governmental affairs. He was previously editor of a business magazine covering the international gemstone trade. Slade holds a master's degree in public affairs reporting from Sangamon State University (now University of Illinois/Springfield) and a bachelor's degree from Temple University.

Warren Peper is one of the best-known and most trusted faces in the Lowcountry. He is a graduate of North Charleston High School and Charleston Southern University. During his 35 years as a local TV news and sports anchor, he received many awards, including a Peabody award for his coverage of Hurricane Hugo, an Emmy for Broadcast Excellence - Local News, and Sportscaster of the Year for South Carolina multiple times. His sports coverage has included the Super Bowl, the Final Four and the Masters, as well as play--by-play for both Southern Conference basketball and S.E.C. football. Following Hurricane Katrina, Peper reported from Mississippi on ravaged communities who felt ignored by the attention focused on New Orleans. From Washington, DC, Peper covered the memorial of Rosa Parks as her body lie in state in the Rotunda. He also has interviewed such well-known people as Muhammad Ali and former President George Bush. He covered five presidential debates in 2008. His broadcasting excellence continues on postandcourier.com through his Man on the Street interviews and through his work with Lowcountrymarketplace.com.

Frank Wooten, a Charleston native, is a graduate of St. Andrews High School, Trident Technical College (chemical engineering technology) and Clemson University (history major, German minor). His newspaper experience includes stints at The Post and Courier (1979-81, 82-84, 90-present), the now-defunct Baltimore News-American (1984-1985) and the now-defunct Dallas Times Herald (1986-90). He has worked at newspapers as a photographer, sportswriter, sports copy editor, sports layout man, sports editor and TV/Radio columnist. He became associate editor of The Post and Courier in 1998 and assistant editor in 2009. He writes editorials and a weekly Commentary Page column.

Robert Behre graduated from Dartmouth College in 1985 with a degree in English and spent five years writing for the Greenville (S.C.) Piedmont before moving to Charleston in 1990. He has covered city and county government for The Post and Courier and also has served as an assistant city editor. His weekly column on architecture and preservation began in 1996. The column looks at the people and decisions involved in saving old buildings, and designing new ones that people will want to save, all with an eye toward what gives the Lowcountry its unique sense of place.

Gene Sapakoff writes sports columns, works on sports and non-sports investigative projects and helps coordinate the Post and Courier's famed coverage of South Carolina and Clemson athletics. An Oregon native, he graduated from Colorado State University and bakes snickerdoodles. He has won many national awards for writing and reporting and has won South Carolina Press Association awards in 10 different categories since 1997, including the Judson Chapman Award for public service in 2011. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News and Baseball America. Gene serves as state representative for both the Heisman Trophy and Wooden Award. He is a Charleston Leadership Foundation board member and enjoys running, reading, Civil War research and Mexican food.

Wevonneda Minis writes genealogy columns and lifestyle features. She has researched family history since 1993 in the United States, Republic of Guinea, England, Scotland and the Bahamas. Ms. Minis has completed the "Advanced Methodology and Evidence Analysis" course, Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, Birmingham, Ala., and the "American Genealogy" course, National Genealogical Society, Arlington, Va. She has lectured at the South Carolina Genealogical Society's Annual Workshop, is director of "Roots and Branches: An African American Genealogy Project" and teaches at the Family History Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition, Ms. Minis is a member of the National Genealogical Society, Federation of Genealogical Societies and South Carolina Genealogical Society. She is a graduate of Regis College, Weston, Mass. and formerly reported on federal environmental policy in Washington, D.C.

Teresa Taylor is an assistant features editor for The Post and Courier who oversees the Food, Home & Garden and Petc. sections. Her first love and primary responsibility is the food beat, which she took over in 2003 after more than 20 years at the newspaper in other editing positions. She writes stories for Wednesday's Food section and a recipe exchange column for home cooks called "Now We're Cooking," which appears in Sunday editions. Taylor joined the company in 1983 as a copy editor for The News and Courier, having previously worked for Gannett's Westchester-Rockland newspaper group in White Plains, N.Y. She became weekend editor in 1987, news editor of The Evening Post in 1990, and executive business editor of The Post and Courier in 1991.

Deidre Schipani has a 26-year career in culinary arts, teaching and writing. For the past 10 years, she has been manager of culinary services for Lunds and Byerly's, a chain of 23 upscale supermarkets in the upper Midwest. She directed the company's School of Culinary Arts, managed retail culinary services and oversaw publications, resource material and a Web site. Schipani was a restaurant critic and food writer for the 70,000-circulation Minnesota Monthly magazine from 1991-96. She wrote a food and wine column for Patuxent Publishing Co., a group of weekly newspapers in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area, from 1981-88. She was a recipe developer for "Prevention's Quick and Healthy Low Fat Cooking: Featuring All American Food" (Rodale Press, 1995) and was the editor, test kitchen manager and food writer for The Byerly Bag, a supermarket publication, from 1997 to 2006. From 1982-86, she owned and operated a full-service catering business in the Baltimore-Washington area. Schipani received a diploma, with honors, in classical French cooking from the L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, Md., in 1982. She has a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Rosemont College in Pennsylvania and master's degree in education, magna cum laude, from Loyola College in Baltimore. She also took courses in restaurant management from Howard Community College in Maryland, attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals Master Class Program and has earned the highest level of certification, Certified Culinary Professional, from the IACP, demonstrating competency in food safety, nutrition, food science and world and U.S. cuisines.

Stephanie Harvin’s roots are in South Carolina — Sumter and Manning — although she grew up as an Air Force brat while her father pursued his medical career. She majored in archaeology and anthropology at the University of South Carolina until she decided she didn’t want to be digging dirt with a trowel. She joined The Post and Courier in 1978 and worked as an award-winning photographer for 16 years, covering such diverse subjects as sports, Spoleto Festival USA and the president. She became a reporter in 1994 covering fashion, style, the arts and design. She won writing awards in South Carolina and was honored by the Association of Sunday and Features Editors for her column writing. She moved to editing, and spent six years working with reporters on legislative, education and regional issues. In 2008, she moved back to the Features Department as editor, and now specializes in her two loves: the arts and food. She is inspired by the creation of art, whether it is a chef with a new recipe or a budding artist just learning to play the violin. Email her at sharvin@postandcourier.com. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/sharvin101 or on Facebook at Stephanie Harvin, writer.

David Quick has been covering health and active outdoor lifestyles for The Post and Courier for a decade. He is an avid runner and triathlete.

Tony Bertauski, who lives in Summerville, has been sharing his gardening expertise with Post and Courier readers since August 2004. A horticulture instructor at Trident Technical College, he has a master's degree in horticulture from the University of Illinois and a bachelor's degree in plant and soil science from Southern Illinois University. Bertauski is the author of two textbooks, "Plan Graphics for the Landscape Designer" and "Designing the Landscape."