Kate is IJEA’s 36th Journalist of the Year and the first from York Community High School! She has been an award-wining journalist at her school since her freshman year. The senior is co-editor-in-chief of the online news site This is York and the magazine York-hi. Kate will now compete for national honors against the top high school journalists from other states. Congrats, Kate!

So that we may continue to use the Better BNC platform as a submission and organizational tool for our annual Newspaper & Digital News Media Contest, the IJEA board recently voted to approve a modified fee structure for participating schools. The primary change is that after a school's first five entries, each entry will cost $5. We thank for understanding our efforts to be good stewards of our resources.

Sarah Doerner, IJEA's longest-serving president, died Nov. 29 at the age of 86. After teaching for 37 years, the final 21 in Du Quoin District 300 in Perry County, she served IJEA in many capacities, including president from 2006 to 2016. Her dedication to scholastic journalism was second to none. Read on for tributes to this wonderful educator.

More than 30 schools participated in this year's contest, which was for books covering the 2023-24 school year. Congratulations to all of our yearbook advisers and students! We are proud of the amazing work you did last year! Best of luck on your continuing coverage of the current school year. We can't wait to see the entries for 2024-25!

For the past 20 years, the IJEA All-State Journalism Team has recognized those students who have proven themselves indispensable to their respective school media. These are the student journalists who are the “MVPs” of their publications, dedicated and energetic team leaders whose main contributions often occur behind the scenes.