Prospect High School student named 2022 Illinois Journalist of the Year

Congratulations to Olivia Kim, a senior at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect. She has been named the 2022 Illinois Journalist of the Year by the Illinois Journal Education Association.

A portfolio of her work is available here.

Olivia is IJEA’s 33rd Journalist of the Year since 1989 and the third Prospect student to be named the state’s top high school journalist. She serves as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Prospector.

Jason Block is her journalism teacher and The Prospector’s faculty adviser.

A panel of IJEA board members selected Olivia after assessing the portfolios, self-analytical essays, résumés, transcripts and letters of recommendations submitted by applicants from around the state.

The award, the highest individual student honor given each year by IJEA, comes with a $300 scholarship. Olivia now advances to compete against other state winners for the national title.

Victoria Feng, a senior at Stevenson High School, earned IJOY runner-up honors for her work as a writer and editor for The Statesman school newspaper and as a freelance journalist. Dean Bradshaw is her journalism teacher and The Statesman’s adviser.

The national JEA winner and runners-up will be announced in April at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Los Angeles. Scholarship funds of $3,000 will be awarded to the top winner, with $850 each for runners-up.

Congratulations again to Olivia and Mr. Block, as well as to Victoria and Mr. Bradshaw, and all of this year’s applicants and the advisers who supported them!