Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: New Trier High School Entry Title: Row big or row home: girls varsity rowing takes on another season Entry Credit: Margy Burgoon Judge Comment: How could anyone not be hooked by that idiomatic play on words? Additionally, the idea behind "row big or row home" totally matches the content of the article, expressing the high hopes and expectations of the team, not to mention the win-or-nothing-less attitude.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: New Trier High School Entry Title: ‘Wicked: For Good’ could be changed for the better Entry Credit: Mara Saltzman Judge Comment: The not-so-subtle connection to the lyric still could be lost on those who are not familiar with the musical. For those who are in the loop, however, this use of the lyric is not only a clever reference that fans will enjoy but perfectly represents the sentiments of the review.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Glenbrook South High School Entry Title: A mole-mentous occasion for science: Science teachers celebrate National Mole Day with engaging activities Entry Credit: Zoha Suteria Judge Comment: The play on "momentous" caught my attention immediately. Your headline does what the best of headlines do: it piques the reader's interest and forces them to want to read on to find out what this story is all about. Two other entries just nudged yours out, unfortunately.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Niles West High School Entry Title: Peoples Knows People: A Counselor Who is Always in Your Corner Entry Credit: Sarina Nur Judge Comment: The use of what, at first, seems to be an incorrectly used word, followed by what would be a second error of subject-verb agreement forces the audience to continue reading to sort out what turns out to be perfectly-executed and clever diction. This is a strong entry in a category dominated by strong entries.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Downers Grove South High School Entry Title: Paz fabricates faux floral arrangements Entry Credit: Saara Raheja Judge Comment: Who doesn't adore alliteration in a headline? It also might educate some readers unfamiliar with the French-derived "faux." This is a good entry in a category full of excellent headlines.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Stevenson High School Entry Title: Walk It Off Entry Credit: Aarshia Arora, Netra Wuppalapati Judge Comment: At first glance, "walk it off" didn't do much for me, but reading the full headline revealed not only a clever connection to the often callously-delivered advice but also the deeper meaning of the full content of the story. Well done. [Too bad you couldn't have worked in "Rub some dirt in it" :-) ]
Competition Comment: This category had especially-strong entries this year. All of the headlines had qualities that made them worthy as solid choices to be entered for the competition. What separated the top 3 were
