STATE CHAMPS: Edwardsville's journalism team captures first-ever title

EDWARDSVILLE - A state championship in any sport or academic endeavor is an incredible and rare accomplishment for any high school.

Edwardsville High School’s journalism team tied for first in the recent IHSA State Journalism Competition. The team earned 20 points, tying for first with Naperville Central. IHSA has sponsored this contest since 2006.

The Edwardsville journalism team is directed by Amanda Thrun, an English teacher/publications advisor. Under Thrun, the members of the journalism team have flourished and continued a strong tradition at EHS of producing quality journalism students. This is the first time EHS has captured a state journalism championship. Yearbook students were co-advised by Lauren Mudge.

“We are the only school from Southern Illinois that has ever placed first in the IHSA state journalism competition,” Thrun said. “There are more smaller schools now competing who bring 2-3 students and some earn a couple points. When our name was read I screamed fairly loud. I was ecstatic. I don’t get excited too often, but this was one of the happiest days of my life to be their adviser and know they earned this honor.”

EHS State Journalism Winners:

Emma Lipe, second place, copy-editing

Jane Thompson, second place, news design

Erin Morrisey, third place, yearbook layout/design

Ryan Ash, fourth place, info graphic

Morgan Goebel, fifth place, sports writing

Nara Markowitz, sixth place, editorial cartooning

Sectional winners

The IHSA Journalism sectionals at SIUC were on April 22. Edwardsville captured first place overall, which is our fifth straight first-place finish. Students who place in the top three in their automatically qualify for the state competition.

Nara Markowitz, first place, ad design and first place, editorial cartooning

Kerrington Holland, third place, broadcast news

Emma Lipe, first place, copy-editing

Jade Weber, fourth place, editorial writing

Hannah Willmore, second place, feature writing and second place, review writing

Lily Grieve, fifth place, headline writing

?Ryan Ash, first place, info graphic

Morgan Goebel, second place, sports writing and fifth place, news writing

Jane Thompson, third place, newspaper design

Maddi Lammert, first place, yearbook caption writing

Erin Morrisey, second place, yearbook layout

Molly Farrar and Jessica Fosse, first place, yearbook theme development (two students can compete together)

Sophie Kraus, photo storytelling

Jamie Skigen, yearbook copy writing

Thrun said she was proud that this year she had some sophomores on the roster, who will return next year.
“We live in a dedicated community and they all want to see us continue to grow,” she said.

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