The Daily Northwestern took home 26 awards at the Illinois College Press Association’s Chicago convention this weekend — including the Large School Sweepstakes Award, which recognizes newsroom excellence across all categories.
The contest judges content from 2024. Medill senior Avani Kalra was editor in chief in Winter 2024, and Medill senior Jacob Wendler was editor in chief in Spring and Fall 2024.
At the following ICPA Awards Luncheon, The Daily won eight first-place awards, six second-place awards, eight third-place awards and four honorable mentions across Open and Large School (7,000+ enrollment) Divisions.
“I’m so excited that The Daily Northwestern and 30 individual staffers were recognized at the 2025 ICPA Conference,” Medill junior and Editor in Chief Lily Ogburn said. “Our work is already rewarding — being able to celebrate our staff’s dedication with awards is just the cherry on top.”
Prior to the luncheon, Daily senior staffers attended several training sessions, such as “Ethical AI for Non-IT professionals: Transforming Journalism,” “Finding enterprise stories on your campus,” “Building connections: Audience engagement and newsletters” and “Higher ed in crisis” to develop skills, brainstorm new content strategies and network with other student journalists from around Illinois.
See below for a full list of awards.
First Place:
Critical Review – Other Than Film (Open Division): Senior Staffer Jaharia Knowles for reviewing the 93rd annual Waa-Mu Show “Taken Away.”
Feature Page Design (Large Schools): Design Editor Danny O’Grady and Social Media Editor Paloma Leone-Getten for The Daily’s 2024 General Election Ballot on page four of the Oct. 30, 2024, paper.
Front Page Layout (Large Schools): Daily Northwestern Staff for the “We Will Not Move” encampment print paper on April 29, 2024.
Multimedia Reporting (Large Schools): Polling Editor Scott Hwang, Multimedia Managing Editor Jillian Moore and Senior Staffer Kota Suzuki for The Daily Northwestern’s Fall 2024 poll.
News Story (Large Schools): Former Managing Editor Samantha Powers and former Editor in Chief Jacob Wendler for their story on University President Michael Schill’s testimony before Congress last spring.
Sports Column (Large Schools): Senior Staffer Aayushya Agarwal for previewing Northwestern baseball’s season last February.
Sports Photo (Large Schools): Senior Staffer Anna Watson for her photo of Northwestern women’s field hockey winning the national championship last fall.
Sweepstakes (Large Schools): Daily Northwestern Staff.
Second Place:
Critical Review – Film (Open Division): Senior Staffer Jackson Weier for reviewing Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest.”
Podcast – News (Open Division): Reporters Isabella Jacob and Teresa Ayala Leon for their podcast on the Northwestern Prison Education Program.
Podcast – Sports (Open Division): Features Editor Jake Epstein, Senior Staffer Anita Li and Audio Editor Anavi Prakash for their guide to NU’s women’s lacrosse team.
Sports Feature Story (Large Schools): Development & Recruitment Editor Charlie Spungin for profiling NU women’s tennis player Mika Dagan Fruchtman.
Sports Game Story (Large Schools): Managing Editor Henry Frieman for capturing NU women’s field hockey’s national championship win over Saint Joseph.
General Excellence – Print (Large Schools): Daily Northwestern Staff for “We Will Not Move” on April 29, 2024.
Third Place:
Entertainment Supplement (Open Division): Senior Staffers Lillian Ali and Jamie Kim, and Data Visualizations Editor Mary Randolph for laying out Dillo Day coverage and data visualizations on pages eight and nine in the May 20, 2024, paper.
Newsletter (Open Division): Design Editor Rachel Schlueter for the post-election Daily Digest on November 6th.
Special Supplement (Open Division): Daily Northwestern Staff for The Daily Northwestern’s 2024 Orientation Issue.
Feature Story (Large Schools): Former Managing Editors Saul Pink and Samantha Powers for their In Focus on Northwestern University in Qatar.
Headline Writing (Large Schools): Senior Staffer Sasha Draeger-Mazer for “Cheese pizza with … cheese? MOD meal exchange no longer offers unlimited toppings”.
In-Depth Reporting (Large Schools): Former Editor in Chief Jacob Wendler for his In Focus on Pritzker School of Law Dean Hari Osofsky.
News Story (Large Schools): Editor in Chief Lily Ogburn for her story on the resolution honoring Wadee Alfayoumi passing the U.S. Senate.
Sports Feature Story (Large Schools): Features Editor Jake Epstein for profiling NU women’s lacrosse’s Erin Coykendall.
Honorable Mention:
Column (Large Schools): Senior Staffer Devaki Jayal for her column on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Feature Story (Large Schools): Senior Staffer Samanta Habashy for her story on the pro-Palestinian encampment agreement.
Headline Writing (Large Schools): In Focus Editor William Tong for “Taco Bell will ring once more.”
In-Depth Reporting (Large Schools): Senior Staffers Cole Reynolds and Jerry Wu for their In Focus on dining workers and alleged harassment.
“We have so many talented staffers, and I can’t wait to see the work they continue to do,” Ogburn said.
Email: [email protected]
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