Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: West Chicago High School Entry Title: Wait ’til Thursday because Wednesday cereal is awful Entry Credit: Jason Thunberg, Andrea Vazquez, Yurem Siu, Ny'Ara Tate Judge Comment: So much is happening here, including the fact that the show "Wednesday" can be defined as a serial, so the audience MUST continue on to find out exactly what the content is all about -- exactly what a headline should do. Fantastic play on words.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Normal Community West High School Entry Title: Raising the bar: Normal West weight room transforms into an inclusive space for all students Entry Credit: Ayushi Patel, Halle Blakney Judge Comment: "Raising the bar" has both the obvious connection to weightlifting equipment but also to standards that continue to challenge society to be inclusive to all. Nicely done.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Normal Community High School Entry Title: Signed. Sealed. Dismantled. Entry Credit: Malachi McCool Judge Comment: The switch of the third word from the anticipated "Delivered" is effectively jarring. We tend to create groups of 3, and it would be easy to gloss over the entirety of this grouping, too, but the unexpected forces the audience to invest, not ignore.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Normal Community High School Entry Title: Almost Famous: 3 artists on the brink of a breakout Entry Credit: Bryce Hickman Judge Comment: "Almost Famous" is a great nod to the movie, which (of course) is about the music scene. Maybe a younger audience is aware of that already, maybe not, but it's a clever incorporation for those "in the know."
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Maine West High School Entry Title: Gateway to Broadway Entry Credit: Nicole Kaner Judge Comment: The repetition and rhyming pattern of the two connected words dovetails very well into the content of the story. The design element of the page does effectively lead the reader's eye into the headline placed in the center, giving it an additional sense of attraction for the reader.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Maine West High School Entry Title: The Age of Beige: Modern parenting in a monochrome world Entry Credit: Yarden-Alexandria Amir Judge Comment: The rhyming of "age" and "beige" effectively catches the "ear" of the reader, and the play on the use of "monochrome" against "beige" combined with the alliteration of "modern" create a holistically-pleasing headline that serves very effectively as an entry point into the story.
