Meet the 2025 All-State Journalism Team – MVPs of their school publications!

Linda Jones, IJEA Executive Director and Dave Porreca, CJE • June 9, 2025

We are proud to announce the members of the 2025 IJEA All-State Journalism Team! The 19 students selected for the honor comprise our largest All-State Team in the program's 21-year history. The honorees were nominated by their advisers in recognition of the indispensable contributions they made to their publications during 2024-25.

Congratulations to our 2023 All-State Journalism Team!

Linda Jones, IJEA Executive Director and Dave Porreca, CJE • May 16, 2023

The IJEA is proud to announce the members of the 2023 All-State Journalism Team. The 12 students selected for this year's honor were nominated by their advisers in recognition of the indispensable contributions they made to their publications during 2022-23. Congratulations to these MVPs who rose to the occasion in yet another challenging year!

Annual awards event recognizes All-State Team, Journalist of Year and former IJEA director

June 17, 2022

We honored our 2022 All-State Journalism Team, Illinois Journalist of the Year and IJOY runner-up as well as former IJEA Executive Director Dr. Sally Renaud on June 4 in Springfield. Thank you to the Illinois Press Foundation for making this event possible and to film critic Matt Fagerholm for serving as our keynote speaker. Congrats to all!

Congratulations to our 2021 All-State Journalism Team!

Dave Porreca, CJE and Linda Jones, IJEA Executive Director • June 25, 2021

The IJEA is proud to announce the members of the 2021 All-State Journalism Team. The 11 students selected for this year's honor were nominated by their advisers in recognition of the indispensable contributions they made to their publications during 2020-21. Congratulations to these MVPs who rose to the occasion in this most challenging of years!

Congratulations to our 2020 All-State Journalism Team!

Dave Porreca, CJE, Illinois JEA Board Member • May 20, 2020

The IJEA is proud to announce the members of the 2020 All-State Journalism Team. The 12 students selected for the honor were nominated by their respective advisers in recognition of the indispensable contributions they made to their publications during the 2019-20 school year.

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...

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.

Meet the Winners: IJOYs and All-State Team honored at annual IPF/IJEA Luncheon

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • June 6, 2016

Keynote speaker Jamey Dunn-Thomason noted that it was so good to see so many great student journalists. It gave her hope for the future of journalism. All of the advisers, parents, and student...

IJEA selects All-State Journalism Team for 2016

By Amanda Bright, IJEA Co-Secretary and Region 5 Board Member • May 2, 2016

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...

Video: Here’s what’s so great about the IJEA All-State Journalism Team. Now go for it!

By Dave Porreca, IJEA Website Editor • September 14, 2015

Michael Geheren, a member of the IJEA All-State Journalism Team in 2012 and 2013, talks about why students should enter the competition and why advisers should nominate their MVPs.

What would Queen Latifah do? Advice for the next generation of journalists

By Carla Jimenez • June 10, 2015

One of the highlights of Saturday's IJEA awards luncheon was the inspiring speech by Carla Jimenez. Read on to find out what Queen Latifah has to do with great journalism!

The future is looking bright: IJEA, Illinois Press Foundation honor high school journalism standouts

By Sally Renaud, IJEA Executive Director • June 7, 2015

With the end of the school year came IJEA's annual awards — a chance to salute some of the most talented j-students in the state.