The Leader flies away from ICPA with 19 awards

The Illinois College Press Association (ICPA) held its annual conference in Chicago on Feb. 17 and 18.

The Leader, amongst many other college newspapers from Illinois, had the chance to attend panels on various topics, meet other aspiring journalists, and compete in the award ceremony, which was held on Feb. 18. 

This two-day conference also offered critiques, and keynote speaker Hannah Meisel.

The Leader competes in two categories, the open category, and a divisional category for schools with an enrollment of under 3,000. 

This year, The Leader won five awards in the open category, and 14 in their divisional category. 

“As the awards kept getting announced, I could not have been more proud of our staff and editorial board,” said editor-in-chief Ryan Windle. “It really showed how much hard work we put in this year to try to make our paper a good representation of campus life at Elmhurst.”

They continued, “I never thought that our sports section would be our prized possession this year. It honestly made me a little emotional when we got second place for general excellence, it felt well deserved.”

The Leader’s adviser, Eric Lutz, felt similar to Windle, looking back at the past year of work that was displayed. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of Ryan, the editors, and the staff,” said Lutz. “I can’t wait to see how they build on this hard-earned achievement. This group is continuing the long tradition of outstanding student journalism at Elmhurst.”

Below is the full list of awards The Leader won:

Open Category (state-wide competition):

2nd place, Sarah Glees — Critical Review, film 

3rd place and Honorable Mention, Abbey Mark — Digital Advertisement 

Honorable Mention, Rachel Fratt — Print Advertisement 

Honorable Mention, The Leader Staff — Entertainment Supplement 

Divisional Category (schools with enrollment under 3,000)

2nd place, The Leader Staff — General Excellence, print 

3rd place, The Leader Staff — Sweepstakes 

1st place, Olivia Rueff — Sports Photo

2nd place, Alyssa Kuehne — Sports Photo 

2nd place, Rachel Fratt and Abbey Mark — Front Page Layout 

2nd place, Ryan Windle — Sports feature story 

3rd place, Ryan Windle — Sports column 

3rd place, Kween Jean — Sports game story

3rd place, The Leader Editorial Board — Editorial 

Honorable mention, The Leader Editorial Board — Editorial 

Honorable mention, David Castañeda — Sports game story

Honorable mention, Adriana Briscoe — News story

Honorable mention, Rachel Fratt — Feature page layout 

Honorable mention, Abbey Mark — Sports page layout