Students of journalism attended the Southern Illinois School Press Association (SISPA) Winter Conference at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on Wednesday, Feb. 25. The competition consisted of mail-in and on-site contests. The students started their day by enjoying donuts provided by yearbook specialist, Jim Hawkinson. 

Each student participated in one of 14 on-site categories to compete in. One student placed in the top three of their competition. Kenzie Seidel won first place in Yearbook Caption Writing. Each student entered at least one mail-in category as well. A total of 23 entries were submitted, and multiple awards were received. 

From last year’s book, journalism was rewarded with the Golden Dozen for the book titled “Once Upon A Time”.  Kenzie Seidel, Emma Griswold and Evan Keen claimed second place in the Yearbook Theme Development competition. Evan Keen was submitted in the News and Feature Photo with a photo of the hot air balloon that was at Bean Days. He took first place in his competition. Abigail Young got second place in Yearbook Club Spread with her band spread. The last award that was received by Kenzie Seidel and Emma Griswold was for third place in Digital Homepage Design for our schools student news website, “The Warwhoop”.

Yearbook advisor, Kelli Keen, said, “It is a great feeling to watch your students be recognized for the exceptional work that they produce. I am proud of them and I know that they will continue to create a high quality yearbook.”

Emma Griswold said, “Mrs. Keen and SISPA are the bomb.com. Katelyn and I thought that we ate in our Theme Development competition, but we sadly did not end up placing at all.”