Nominate your staff MVP for the IJEA’s All-State Journalism Team by April 5!

We’ve extended the All-State nomination deadline to April 5 at 11:59 p.m. The IJEA All-State Journalism Team recognizes the MVPs of Illinois high school journalism staffs. Do you have a student who should be on the team? Nominate them today!

Dave Porreca, CJE, IJEA Board Member • March 29, 2024

PLEASE NOTE: Our extended deadline has passed. Good luck to everyone who was nominated! Students selected for the 2024 IJEA All-State Journalism Team will be honored at our year-end awards banquet on June 1 at Inn on 835 in Springfield. Honorees and their advisers will receive details when the All-State Team is announced in late April.

Advisers: We understand that you and your students are short of time during this busy and hectic part of the school year. So we have extended our 2024 All-State Journalism Team nomination deadline until 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 5, 2024.

What is the All-State Team?

Since the spring of 2005, the IJEA All-State Journalism Team has recognized those students who have proven themselves indispensable to their respective school media (e.g., yearbook, print or online newspaper, print or online newsmagazine, broadcast or other journalistic media).

We began the All-State Journalism Team as a way to recognize those students who are “most valuable players” — those students whose leadership, energy, dedication and expertise make their publications possible but whose main contributions often occur behind the scenes.

This is what makes the All-State Team different from other high school journalism honors. It’s not about the byline. We’re not selecting this year’s best writer, photographer, designer or broadcaster — although many All-State honorees would do just fine in those kinds of contests!

Who Should Be Nominated?

Instead, we’re choosing those student journalists who’ve put their publications ahead of themselves.

They’re the ones who are willing to sacrifice their spare time to make sure other people’s stories are well edited. They’re the ones who make sure a publication’s pages are smartly designed, the headlines witty, the photos well composed, the website up to date and easy to navigate, the videos smoothly produced and the information in every story accurate and fair. They’re the ones who don’t seek recognition but who deserve it most of all.

Eligibility

All Illinois student journalists in grades 9-12 are eligible to be nominated by their advisers, who must be members of the Illinois Journalism Education Association.

Nominations may not exceed two students per school. If two students are nominated from the same school, they must represent different publications or programs (e.g., yearbook and newspaper).

IJEA Membership Requirement for Advisers

Nominating advisers must be IJEA members.

To join IJEA for the 2023-24 school year, complete and submit our online membership form OR our PDF membership form. In either case, send your $25 membership fee to: Jenn Galloy, IJEA Treasurer, 7405 Kenicott Lane, Plainfield, IL 60586. All necessary payment instructions are included in the membership forms.

Selection Process

Students must be nominated by their adviser to be considered for the All-State Journalism Team. A committee consisting of professional journalists and journalism educators will select the winners.

For a student to be considered, the following items must be submitted:

Online nomination form. This form will ask for information from both the adviser (nominator) and student (nominee).
A nomination statement in which the adviser discusses why the student should be named to the IJEA All-State Journalism Team.
Three student work samples from the current school year.
A brief text document in which the student discusses the background and significance of each work sample.
An essay in which the student discusses her or his journalism activities during the current school year.
A color “headshot” photo of the student, to be posted on the IJEA website and in the IJEA newsletter if the student is selected.
A $10 nomination fee. Payment instructions are included in the nomination form.

Extended Deadline

Again, the deadline for nominations and the submission of all supporting materials has been extended to 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 5. If you have a student who you believe embodies the standards of the All-State Team, we hope you consider nominating them! Good luck to all of this year’s nominees!