'Columbia Chronicle' Wins 33 Awards at Illinois College Press Association Awards

Campus Communications Staff / Mar 07, 2025

group of students posing with their award certificates

The staff of the "Columbia Chronicle" show off their awards.

Columbia College Chicago’s student newspaper “The Columbia Chronicle” won the sweepstakes for the mid-sized school category at the Illinois College Press Association Awards.

Columbia College Chicago’s student newspaper “The Columbia Chronicle” won 33 awards at the Illinois College Press Association Awards, earning the sweepstakes in the mid-sized school category. This is the largest number of awards the “Chronicle” has ever taken home in a single year from this competition.

“Winning anything at ICPA is an honor, let alone over 30 awards,” says Patience Hurston, editor-in-chief of the “Chronicle” for the award-winning issues. “We always say we don't do it for awards -- which is true -- but awards certainly help propel us to the finish line of the semester as students and adds to the vigor to keep seeking out impactful stories for our community.”

In addition to winning awards in categories ranging from editorial cartooning to sports coverage to podcasting, the “Chronicle” staff won first place in the General Excellence Category for web, recognizing the overall quality of work done by the publication.

Award winners represent a wide range of majors across the college, including Photojournalism, Illustration, Radio, Animation, Marketing, ASL Interpretation, and Creative Writing majors.

“It is great to know that professional judges recognize the commitment to journalism that I see in the newsroom every day,” says Professor Jackie Spinner, the paper’s faculty advisor.

Of their awards, 10 were for first place and some were part of categories open to institutions of all sizes. This includes a first-place win in the Special Supplement category, where the “Chronicle’s” election coverage beat out entrants from significantly larger colleges from across Illinois.

Other awards of note are senior photojournalism major Addison Annis’s domination in photography categories and junior computer animation major María Sanchez Medina’s first place finish in the DEI coverage category for her Spanish-language comic strip.

“Our students are committed to all the things that drew me to journalism years ago, including holding people accountable and highlighting the underrepresented voices among us,” Spinner says.

See the full list of awards below:

First Place — General Excellence, Web — Staff

First Place — Sweepstakes — Staff

First Place — Special Supplement — Election Issue

First Place — Best Print Ad — Alex Suarez

First Place — Opinion Pages — Staff

First Place — Feature Page Design — Lilly Sundsbak

First Place — In-Depth Reporting — Uriel Reyes

First Place — General News Photo — Addison Annis

First Place — Feature Photo — Addison Annis

First Place — DEI Coverage — María Sanchez Medina

First Place — Ron Wriginton Chicago Photo Contest* — Addison Annis

Second Place — Editorial Cartoon — Alex Suarez

Second Place — Opinion Pages — Peyton Reich

Second Place — Best Digital Ad — Emily Ramirez

Second Place — Front Page Layout — Lily Sundsbak and Alex Suarez

Second Place — Sports Game Story — Maya Liquigan and Sofia Oyarzún

Second Place — Sports Photo — Kaelah Serrano

Second Place — Multimedia Reporting — Charles Rahn

Third Place — General Excellence, Print — Staff

Third Place — Editorial — Staff

Third Place — Sports News Story — Maya Liquigan

Third Place — Feature Story — Patience Hurston

Third Place — Headline Writing — Doreen Abril Albuerne-Rodriguez

Third Place — Photo Essay — Addison Annis

Third Place — Feature Photo — Kaelah Serrano

Third Place — Multimedia Reporting — Ali Brenneman

Third Place — Podcast News — Greer Stewart

Third Place — Podcast, Entertainment and Culture — Cosme Cruz

Third Place — Ron Wriginton Chicago Photo Contest* — Lukas Katilius

Honorable Mention — Column — Samaher AbuRabah

Honorable Mention — Feature Story — Doreen Abril Albuerne-Rodriguez

Honorable Mention — In-Depth Reporting — Staff

Honorable Mention — Sports Photo — Addison Annis

Honorable Mention — DEI Coverage — Kate Larroder

“The ‘Chronicle’ thrives in breaking down big changes happening in our college into understandable and insightful information for our community,” says former editor-in-chief Patience Hurston.

“I think a benefit to having Columbia be smaller college is that we can really have our ear to the ground and listen to all the perspectives coming in from every school or group.”

'Columbia Chronicle' Wins 33 Awards at Illinois College Press Association Awards

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