For the second straight year, IV Leader, the student newspaper at Illinois Valley Community College, was awarded the Mike Foster Award for General Excellence, the highest award presented, at the Illinois Community College Journalism Association annual spring conference.

“Wow. Tons of local content relevant to your campus,” the judges commented. “All of it was interesting. Paper is well-designed. Great job.”
Sophomore Martha Hoffman of Earlville serves as editor-in-chief for IV Leader.

Student newspapers from across the state can earn recognition at the conference hosted this year by Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield. Some contest categories are based on enrollment while others are open to all newspapers.

In addition to winning first place for general excellence in Division II, IV Leader won first place for news story for its coverage of the tornado that hit Naplate and Ottawa. “Nice job covering a major news event,” the judge said. “Your coverage was thorough and compelling.”

In the open division, IV Leader received awards for multimedia story, reporter of the year, and graphics.

Award winners included:
Stephanie Bias of LaSalle, honorable mention in the open division for reporter of the year; Bethany Black of Oglesby, second place in sports feature; Aelsa Butler of Arlington, first place in news column; Kellsie Edgcomb, of Peru, first place in headline writing; Summer Hoagland-Abernathy of Marseilles, second place in arts review; Martha Hoffman of Earlville, honorable mention in feature writing; Brittany Marx of Peru and Josh Rinehart of Oglesby, first place in arts review; Akari Oya of Peru, first place in sports photo; Aaron Pellican of LaSalle, honorable mention in the open division for multimedia story; Kyle Russell of Utica, first and second place in feature photo, first and third place in news photo; Peggy Schneider of Ottawa, second place in the open division for graphics; Tyler Towne of Peru, honorable mention in multimedia story, third place in headline writing, first place in page design, third place in sports news, and third place in sports feature;
Lori Cinotte, journalism instructor, is faculty adviser for the paper.