Co-Editor-in-Chief senior Nola Quinn earned 42Fifty’s first medal at IHSA State Journalism competition, marking the end of a successful spring series for OH journalists. Quinn earned fifth place in News Writing.
Also earning a fifth-place medal at State was senior and Reflector Yearbook Co-Editor-in-Chief Elayna Soyke for her work in Photo Story Telling. These two medals, the first ever for OH, were the last of three firsts for the journalism program this spring.
On Feb. 22, OH placed fourth overall at Southwest Prairie Conference (SPC), an improvement over the sixth place finish in ’24. Of the 19 journalists who completed, OH brought home eight medals and placed in 12 events.
On April 5, OH placed fourth overall at IHSA Sectionals, which is the first time the combined 42Fifty and Reflector Yearbook team ever placed at Sectionals in school history.
At IHSA Sectionals, two 42Fifty journalists placed first: News Editor Chayse White in Copy Editing and Co-Editor-in-Chief Sasha Pankuch placed first in Infographics.
Two journalists earned second place finishes at Sectionals: Reflector Co-Editor-in-Chief Elayne Soyke in Photo Story Telling and 42Fifty Co-Editor-in-Chief Nola Quinn in News Writing.
Three 42Fifty journalists placed third in two events: reporter Brandyn Hudson in Advertising, Managing Editor Jayden Doty and reporter Madi Gilio in Video News.
Additionally, eight other competitors also placed at Sectionals: Entertainment Editor Gavin Dolan in Review Writing (4th place), Sports Editor Lindsay Arand in Sports Writing (4th place); Reflector Editor William Piekarczyk in Yearbook Caption Writing (4th place), Reflector reporter Addison Richter in Yearbook Page Design (5th place), Podcast Editor Ethan Monahan in Radio News (5th place), Reflector repoter Jessica Bellah in Yearbook Copy Writing (5th place), Reflector reporter Addison Binder in Yearbook Theme Development (6th place), Reflector reporter Salem Cossyleon II I in Yearbook Theme Development (6th place), and Reflector reporter Addison Richter in Newspaper Design (6th place).
These awards at Sectionals meant that impressive seven competitors moved on in individual categories to compete at State, another first for the OH publications. These resulted in the two first State medals earned by Quinn and Soyke in News Writing and Photo Story Telling respectively.
Through the Northern Illinois Scholastic Press Association (NISPA), 42Fifty and Reflector journalists also earned accolades through April competitions. Both the Reflector yearbook and 42Fifty multimedia website earned Bronze Certificate recognition for journalism excellence.
Additionally, other individual awards were awarded to the publications: To The Reflector, an award was given for Honorable Mention in Photography.
42Fifty reporters Monaco Tiffany & Kiersten Cain earned a Blue Ribbon for Opinion Writing, and 42Fifty Co-Editor-in-Chief Nola Quinn earned a Blue Ribbon for Breaking News.
Honorable mentions were earned by 42Fifty staff members for various stories. News Editor Chayse White for Profile Writing, Lydia Freeman for Video Package; Miley Salas for Review Writing, and Photo Editor Ariel Raygoza for News Writing.
42Fifty is the student media Publication of Oswego High School, Oswego, IL. Stories attributed to 42Fifty are written by editorial staff, or in the case of staff editorial, reflect a quorum of the student staff's ideas and opinions. To learn more about the 42Fifty staff, please see the About or Our Staff page on the website.
