2012 All-State Journalism Team
Meet Our Honorees for 2011-12
William “Liam” Brady
Sports editor
The Pacer newspaper
Rolling Meadows High School
Adviser: Stan Zoller
Lindsey Caudle
Division editor
Echo yearbook
Cisne High School
Adviser: Trudy Hurd
Jacquelyn Crockett
Editor-in-chief
Lancer news magazine
Belleville East High School
Adviser: Taree McGee
Carly Evans
Copy editor
The Prospector newspaper
Mount Prospect High School
Adviser: Jason Block
Michael Geheren
Digital editor
The Voice Online news site
Huntley High School
Adviser: Dennis Brown
Ashley Hawkins
Co-editor
The Correspondent newspaper
John Hersey High School
Adviser: Janet Levin
Amy Klasing
Editor-in-chief
Newspaper and yearbook
Okawville High School
Adviser: Dana Donovan
Ivana Kosir
News editor
Niles West News print and online
Niles West High School
Adviser: Evelyn Lauer
Becky Laux
Managing editor
Warrior yearbook
McHenry High School
Adviser: Dane Erbach
Julianne Micoleta
Managing editor and in-depth editor
The Guardian newspaper
Elk Grove High School
Adviser: Alissa Prendergast
Madeline Savoie
Features editor
The Warrior newspaper
Lane Tech College Prep High School
Adviser: Seth Johnson
Zoie Sheets
Designer
Meridian Moments yearbook
Meridian High School
Adviser: Sheila Moore
Will Shih
Editor-in-chief
The Viking Logue
William Fremd High School
Adviser: Russ Anderson
Daniela Vidal
Editor-in-chief
The Shield newspaper
Richwoods High School
Adviser: Dan Kerns
Gloria Young
Managing editor for content
North View newspaper
Belvidere North High School
Adviser: Mike Doyle
MEET THE TEAM
Junior William “Liam” Brady is the sports editor for the Pacer at Rolling Meadows High School, and his primary responsibility is the coordination of all sports coverage, including story selection, editing and page layout. And he lives by the philosophy, “You get out as much as you put in,” and he puts in a LOT, sometimes more than 30 hours per week. He usually writes several stories per issue and lays out two to three pages of the monthly publication. In addition, he has worked hard with digital and social media for the Pacer, increasing the number of Twitter followers by more than 100 in a week, using social media and launching the website. He is also intent on ensuring that future staffers are in the pipeline, recruiting eighth-graders for next year’s staff and teaching a group of them the craft of journalism. His samples were a sports front, a page package about wrestlers with a hockey piece, and a story and layout on an alumnus who volunteered in Ghana. He is advised by Stan Zoller.
The Echo yearbook of Cisne High School simply would not be what it is without junior Lindsey Caudle. She is a division editor who designs layouts for sections and maintains consistency, and an assistant editor who checks every page for style and design consistency and accuracy. After school, Caudle devotes about 4 and a half hours a week to yearbook to make sure the book captures the essence of the year –including its successes and failures. She often has to seek out and talk with people she does not often see, so that all stories can be represented in the book. Perhaps most important for the staff, she learned to use the company’s new system rather than In-Design, which she preferred. It was a challenge, especially with so many first-year staffers, but her creativity and ability to work with others helped the staff get through. Her samples were a division page spread, the cover illustrating the theme she created (with a push pin element as a unifying graphic) and layouts on Homecoming and friendship. She is advised by Trudy Hurd.
Pep talks to newcomers and a boundless energy mark the spirit of Jacquelyn Crockett, the editor of the Belleville East Lancer news magazine. She loves meeting new people and has the self-proclaimed ‘curiosity of a cat,’ which, along with entertaining, informing and reflecting her community motivates her to continue journalism. She loves to ask questions and dig for answers on her own. And what she wants is a terrific final product so she can begin the process all over again–such a romantic profession! And she sees the need for good-news stories as well coverage of the people who make up the community. Her samples included a story on the school secretary and an edition of the paper with a number of stories she wrote. She is advised by Taree McGee.
Senior Carly Evans is a copy editor. And she loves editing stories for the 16-page Prospector of Prospect High School, published monthly. As copy editor, Evans edits all stories and puts feedback into the production of the paper, and she remembers a time when she was not so confident about her own writing and editing. But now she loves that her staff sees her everyday, and that she has a role to play in the outcome of the paper. She knows her readers rely on the paper to give them correct information in a professional way, and she loves when the newspaper takes on challenging stories and gives a voice to the voiceless. She takes on some of those stories herself, both investigative and editorial. Her samples were a profile of a student with cancer, drunk driving and an editorial. She is advised by Jason Block.
Junior Michael Geheren is responsible for, well, just about everything that has to do with huntleyvoice.com, Huntley High School’s student website. He in charge of design, uploading, editing … you name it! He created the online site during a three-day stretch of snow days, and from that day on he organized the class, restructured the staff and trained the students. During an average week, Geheren smothers himself with journalism, as he works for the Chicago Tribune’s Mash and as a blogger for the Huffington Post. But it is his time with huntleyvoice.com for which he is most proud, and he is proud, too, when the site’s stories get picked up by other media. He loves how news can break online, and how good journalism provides a frontline for information and plays a vital role in society. His samples included a piece on Rep. Joe Walsh speaking locally and coverage of increasing tensions between teachers and teacher unions and administration. He is advised by Dennis Brown.
One of junior Ashley Hawkins‘ main jobs as one of the editors of The Correspondent at John Hersey High School is to keep her staff focused. Keeping everyone on task is a problem when procrastination can be a common in the newsroom. But Hawkins always managed to get her own work done, and to make sure that pages were designed and stories were written on deadline. Even though she is quiet, Hawkins handles pressure and responsibility with strength. She is approachable and helps staffers when they need it. Whether it is learning new software or handling a sensitive story, Hawkins loves that excitement. She can’t imagine life any other way. Her samples were an investigative piece, the death of a student and a review. She is advised by Janet Levin.
At a small school, sometimes you have to do it all, and staff management is a big part of senior Amy Klasing‘s job. She has done her best to get as many people as possible to join in so that Okawville High School’s newspaper and yearbook have staffs. There are no classes in journalism, and Klasing works to inspire students to work on staff, even though they are pulled in many directions. In addition to the publications themselves, for Klasing, journalism itself is at a premium. Klasing loves the social aspect of journalism. And she encouraged her fellow students to take journalism seriously, encouraging them to complete in the IHSA state tournament. Numbers of students willing to compete have grown with Klasing’s urging. Klasing’s samples include a yearbook spread, a story on sleep. She is advised by Dana Donovan.
As news editor for the Niles West News and nileswestnews.com, junior Ivana Kosir oversees a staff of 10. In an effort to provide unbiased information to the school community, she assigns, edits and works closely with the editor to publish the website daily. And that’s besides her own news stories (the school board beat) and news blog. Timeliness is essential. But she often faces roadblocks. She has had to file Freedom of Information Act requests and to cover some challenging situations, but they have only served to make Kosir want it more. The more is multiple interviews each week for her own stories, and editing about eight stories a week. Her samples were a breaking news story … literally published 40 minutes after a school evacuation, coverage of a school board meeting and the possibility of new school schedules. Her adviser is Evelyn Laurer.
Becky Laux is not 100 percent satisfied with her works, especially when she sees mistakes. She’d like to go back and fix certain layout and designs, especially because designing is what she likes best. As managing editor, the senior sometimes takes months to get every corner and curved line of the photo frames just right so that circles are perfect. But it is that kind of perfection that sets the standard for the Warrior yearbook at McHenry High School, and Laux’s work is one of the reasons for that excellence. The senior also created the book’s theme, Stand Up. Her samples included detailed graphic/sidebars, one showing connections and one about people who stand out, but not necessarily the heroes, and an elaborate spread. She is advised by Dane Erbach.
When the staff of The Guardian was without an in-depth editor, junior Julianne Micoleta volunteered. She already was the Elk Grove newspaper’s managing editor, but the willingness to help the staff was vital to Micoleta. She takes notes during staff meetings, she makes executive decisions when the editors are unavailable, and she tackles the most demanding sections in terms of writing, organizing and designing. And she loves journalism. She loves providing direction for her staff, and providing input. She encourages staffers to look for hard-pressing news staories and hse challenges thenm to dig deeper andhone their skills as journalists. She sees herslef as an example to her staff, to look for stories that will help them grow as journalists and that will be meaningful to their readers. Her samples included a story on a constitution project, an indepth spead on students’ rights and one on childhood nostalgia. Her adviser is Alissa Prendergast.
To say that senior Madeline Savoie spends time at her job wold be an understatement. As features editor of The Warrior newspaper at Lane Tech College Prep High School, the weeks leading up to production are filled with editing stories, designing pages, putting together headlines … and her own stories as well. She takes special care in the pages, as she knows that many things pull readers away from the paper … and she wants to make it attractive enough to hold their attention. While she likes the layout part of her job best of all, she gets a great deal of journalistic satisfaction from writing about significant issues that her peers face. She feels a level of responsibility toward her readers, and she wants not simply to inform them but to get them talking about the issues raised in the paper. Her samples included a piece on sexual harassment on public transportation, a complicated layout and a story on the stuggles of the football team. She is advised by Seth Johnson.
Zoie Sheets wants her work to capture a moment and cause readers in the future to say ‘Wow! I remember that!” As designer for the Meridian Moments yearbook at Meridian High School, Sheets, a junior, creates her own templates for the book, and desides ways to manipulate them to create a more visually appealing spread, based on the topic. She sees the process as utilizing all the arts, which work togethe to createa design aesthetic. She values clean lines and simplicity while sill finding room for the details. By focusing on those who read the book, Sheets is able to create memorable pages that best represent, reflect and complement the stories and pictures. Her samples were spreads on dance and cheerleading, and a writing piece on the schools’ FCCLA Club. She is advised by Sheila Moore.
Senior Will Shih is a jack-of-all-trades. Besides overseeing every department in The Viking Logue newspaper at William Fremd High School (news, sports, A&E and opinion) and working with all reporters on an individual basis, Shih also writes editorials and manages the paper’s Forum Page. He works with the editorial cartoonist and working with columnists and the editorial team to determine the topics. When the page is complete, he works with other departments editing and working on articles. But what’s most important to him is securing the future of the Logue newsroom. He sees preparing the next generation to take the rein as his primary responsibility. While he could do it himself faster and perhaps better, helping other staffers learn to do it themselves now will pay off in the future. He wants them to make sure the stories impact their school. His samples were a column written as a process with another writer, an editorial and a story on Occupy Wall Street. He is advised by Russ Anderson.
When she was chosen to be the editor of her Richwoods High School paper, senior Daniela Vidal did not know she would be undertaking a role beyond managing her staff. This year, because of pressures from the school’s administration, she has had to be a strong voice for journalism and for her newspaper, The Shield, as it battled censorship and prior restraint, an ordeal that has been chronicled in the Peoria Journal-Star and other media outlets. Journalistic duties do not end when the news is disseminated. They continue. The experience has helped her consider the situations of others as she faced those challenges. She says that journalism must speak, enchanting while weaving in the truth, and she has come to realize the importance and necessity for truth crafted by specific, critical and innovative language. Her samples were two editorials and a story on the football team’s loss in a championship game. She is advised by Dan Kerns.
Gloria Young, as managing editor for content of the North View newspaper at Belvidere North High School, thought it was about time that the staff had a manual. The paper had been in operation since the school opened in 2007, but it had never had a completed guidebook. Someone had to do it — and Young, a senior, finished the 60-page document. It covers all aspects of the newspaper, from story ideas to sending the paper to the printer and all the policies in between, including how to answer the phone and style rules. Of course, her real job makes her responsible for all content, stories, captions and headlines that are printed in the paper. One of her samples was ways she edits the pages. Her edits range from improvements to the stories, changes to inconsistencies in copy and design and filling white space. She also reports when needed, and she included one of her stories, a personality profile, in her samples. She is advised by Mike Doyle.