• Congratulations to IJEA Executive Director Linda Jones on receiving the national JEA's Lifetime Achievement Award! She will be honored at the 2025 Spring JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle.
  • Congratulations to IJEA member Leslie Fireman, journalism adviser at West Chicago High School, on winning the national JEA's Rising Star Award! She was honored at the 2024 Fall JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Philadelphia.
  • Congratulations to IJEA Hall of Fame member Stan Zoller, MJE, on being the inaugural winner of the National JEA's Candace and John Bowen Adviser First Amendment Leadership Award! He was honored at the 2024 Fall JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Philadelphia.
  • It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Sarah Doerner, IJEA’s longest-serving president. Sarah died Nov. 29 in Du Quoin at the age of 86. Services were held Dec. 7. See below for our tribute to this great journalism educator.
  • Advisers! Join IJEA today! Annual memberships and lifetime memberships are available. Use our online form or fillable PDF to join!
Illinois Journalism Education Association, 2501 Chatham Road, Suite 200, Springfield, IL 62704

Illinois JEA
Illinois Journalism Education Association, 2501 Chatham Road, Suite 200, Springfield, IL 62704

Illinois JEA
Illinois Journalism Education Association, 2501 Chatham Road, Suite 200, Springfield, IL 62704

Illinois JEA
The 2017 IJEA Yearbook Contest General Excellence Winners (top to bottom; left to right): West Prairie High School (Division 1), Taylorville High School (Division 4), Meridian High School (Division 2), McHenry High School (Division 5), Glenbrook South High School (Division 6), Richmond-Burton High School (Division 3)

Congratulations, 2017 IJEA Yearbook Contest winners!

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and At-Large Board Member • January 10, 2018
Whether it was copy writing, sports coverage, photography, graphics, layout and design, divider pages, theme development or overall coverage of the 2016-17 school year, Illinois high school journalists shined in IJEA's 2017 Yearbook Contest. Check out the complete results inside.
Chicago-area advisers learn from each other at 2017 Teach-In

Chicago-area advisers learn from each other at 2017 Teach-In

By Amanda Bright, Co-Secretary and At-Large Board Member • August 21, 2017

Scholastic media advisers gathered in a high rise on Wacker Drive on Aug. 8 to not only enjoy the Chicago newsroom of Northwestern University's Medill School and its view of Lake Michigan, but also to...

FREE CURRICULUM: Advisers can download, use 'Scholastic Media Law & Ethics in New Voices Illinois' for this fall

FREE CURRICULUM: Advisers can download, use ‘Scholastic Media Law & Ethics in New Voices Illinois’ for this fall

By Amanda Bright, Co-Secretary and At-Large Board Member • July 17, 2017

On July 29, 2016, Illinois became a New Voices state when the Speech Rights of Student Journalists Act (HB 5902) became law. The Illinois Journalism Education Association was elated at the bill’s passage,...

IPF awards Illinois high schools with $25,000 in grants for 2017

IPF awards Illinois high schools with $25,000 in grants for 2017

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • May 16, 2017
21 schools receive funds to help their scholastic journalism programs, thanks to the Illinois Press Foundation's annual program of mini-grants.
Brenda Field, Glenbrook South High School yearbook adviser and state director for the Illinois JEA, presents a "Fly the J" rally towel to each adviser at the IHSA State Journalism competition at Eastern Illinois University. Field's allegory on the improbable 2016 win for the Cubs was linked with the passage of New Voices legislation in Illinois, for which she thanked and encouraged advisers.

Brenda Field receives 2017 James A. Tidwell Award for Excellence in Scholastic Media Education

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • May 12, 2017
The Glenbrook South High School yearbook adviser and state director for the IJEA encourages advisers to "Fly the J" as a reference to her beloved Cubs and scholastic press freedom in Illinois

IJEA inducts Stan Zoller, Brenda Field into 2017 Hall of Fame

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • May 12, 2017

Cathy Wall, herself a member of the IJEA Hall of Fame, inducted Stan Zoller and Brenda Field into the 2017 class of the IJEA Hall of Fame during the IHSA State Journalism Competition at Eastern Illinois...

IJEA selects All-State Journalism Team for 2017

IJEA selects All-State Journalism Team for 2017

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • April 28, 2017

The All-State Journalism Team began in spring of 2005, when the Illinois Journalism Education Association recognized a need to honor those students who have proven themselves indispensable to their...

Adviser Steve Steele, left, and his Taylorville journalism students display their IHSA sectional team championship plaque after tying Urbana University High for first place at the Normal Illinois State University sectional in 2015. Students will compete at seven other sectional locations for the chance to qualify for the IHSA state final at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston for 2016.

Start preparing for IHSA Journalism Sectionals

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • April 20, 2017

Illinois student journalists with striking skills in photography, strong creativity in yearbook theme development, and solid sports writing chops will travel to seven different sectional sites on April...

The IJEA 2016 All-State Journalism Team

IJEA Blog: It’s OK to cheat! Use this to ID your deserving All-State Journalism Team member(s)

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • February 27, 2017
Did that just say "Cheat"? Is that legal if I'm a teacher and adviser? Turns out, it is — especially if it's rewarding the most driven and passionate students in your newsroom with the honor of being on the IJEA All-State Journalism Team for 2017.
The five division winners of the 2016 IJEA Yearbook Contest include, top to bottom, left to right, University of Chicago Laboratory High School, Glenbrook South High School, and Richmond-Burton Community High School, Brown County High School and Calhoun High School. Congratulations!

Congratulations, 2016 IJEA Yearbook Contest winners!

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • January 5, 2017
Whether it was copy writing, sports coverage, photography, graphics, layout and design, divider pages, theme development or overall coverage of the 2015-16 school year, Illinois high school journalists shined in IJEA's 2016 Yearbook Contest. Check out the complete results inside.

IJEA Blog: What is RIGHT in journalism? Actually, quite a lot.

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • October 17, 2016
Whenever people despair over the sensational and unethical aspects of journalism, Amanda Bright likes to point out what's working in our craft. And that's exactly what she does in the first video contribution to our blog!

IJEA honors Linda Jones as 2016 Friend of Scholastic Journalism

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • September 29, 2016

In accepting the Friend of Scholastic Journalism award, Linda Jones spoke of everyone -- except herself. From the McCormick Foundation to the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago advisers, Jones...

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