By Gargoyle news staff
Posted Sunday, April 29, 2007, The OG, news & student awards

CHARLESTON — An eight-member Uni High team composed of Gargoyle and yearbook staffers placed ninth overall at the IHSA journalism state finals held Saturday at Eastern Illinois University.

Gargoyle senior editor Jonathon Baron led all Uni competitors with a second-place finish in review writing.

Devika Bagchi, another Gargoyle senior editor, won third place in advertising.

Ben Hyman, the Gargoyle's online senior editor, won fourth place in headline writing.

“I think we were all pretty pumped to be going down to Charleston,” Hyman said. “They had all sorts of doughnuts at the introduction, which was definitely very cool. Only three of us were occupied for both sessions, so I think the people who were free just sort of lounged around. I definitely had fun taking my headline-writing test, even though I ultimately lost points because one of my headlines was creative at the expense of accuracy.”

Uni competed against 61 other teams and was the only school in the top 10 with an enrollment under 1,000 students.

“Everything else considered, the most interesting aspect of the contest was our competition,” Baron said. “In other words, we all got a huge kick out of the kids we were going up against. I know Devika said that in advertising, her opponents were taking out artistic supplies, design pencils, charcoal, etc. — she just had a pencil and a pen. For me, we were taken to this art exhibit and told that we could go back-and-forth between that room and a meeting room with desks to take notes and write. Immediately, kids started buzzing around, writing notes furiously, but I just looked around for a few moments, wondering why I was there, until an idea for an intro popped into my head, and I just sat down on the floor and started writing.”

Jefferson High School of Rockford won the state title, boosted by first-place finishes in copy editing, headline writing, and two yearbook events.

“It was a surreal experience,” said Bagchi. “I was slightly intimidated when I walked into the room for my event, because there were so many people and they seemed
to have brought all their art supplies with them. I felt pretty unprepared with the pencil, pen, and eraser I had with me. Honestly, I didn't come out of the competition with a very good feeling about my performance. But apparently it went pretty well.”

The top 10 finishers were:

— Rockford Jefferson, 1st place (30 pts)

— Lincolnshire Stevenson, 2nd place (26 pts)

— Naperville Central, 3rd place, tie (20 pts)

— Huntley, 3rd place, tie (20 pts)

— Palatine Fremd, 5th place (17 pts)

— Plainfield Central, 6th place (16 pts)

— Belleville West, 7th place (15 pts)

— Oak Lawn Community, 8th place (13 pts)

— UNI HIGH, 9th place (12 pts)

— Champaign Centennial, 10th place (11 pts)

“When it came time for the awards, we were all fairly excited,” Hyman said. “I think we
all went in with the intention of having fun; we took it semi-seriously, but certainly not as seriously as some of the other teams did. All in all, it was a fun event. It would have been even better if the state finals were at the Illini Union (or somewhere else in Champaign-Urbana), but the mad journalism road trip we had was very cool.”

The IHSA journalism competition does not classify schools according to enrollment. Schools of all sizes compete against each other in 15 timed events: advertising, infographics, copy editing, editorial cartooning, editorial writing, feature writing, headline writing, news writing, newspaper design, newspaper sports writing, feature photography, review writing, yearbook copy writing, yearbook layout: double-page spead, and yearbook theme development.

“All of us seemed to approach this contest the way we consider normal journalistic tasks and story assignments, but the other competitors took everything incredibly seriously,” Baron said. “Maybe part of that is that we didn't really see that this IHSA competition was that different from any other sort of journalism contest. We all wanted to write and draw as best we could, but as with every other competition we've entered, we knew that winning or losing was pretty subjective, and what actually matters is what
your actual readers think of your work.”

At sectionals a week earlier, Uni team members qualified for state in 10 events: Bagchi, advertising; Baron, review writing; senior Michael Belmont, sports writing and news writing; junior Michelle Gao, feature writing; Hyman, headline writing and copy editing; sophomore Deren Kudeki, editorial cartooning; senior Annie Liang, newspaper design; and junior Christopher Nixon, feature photography.

“During the award ceremony, only about six of us were left because Deren and Jono had gone home, and other schools had brought so many people, probably more than we even have on our staff,” Bagchi said. “So whenever they would win anything, the whole auditorium would explode with cheering. So the atmosphere was pretty intense because a lot of the schools […] train for it all year. Our cheering contingent
was comparatively smaller, and we were also sitting in the balcony. So when they called my name out, I had to run out of the balcony and down the stairs to actually get into the main part of the auditorium. It was great exercise.”

Last year at state, Uni tied for 13th overall. Angelinia Liang, then a senior, won second place in infographics. Her classmate Annie Fehrenbacher finished third in copy editing and fifth in headline writing.

Overall, Baron said he and teammates were pleased with the way things went this year.

“I still wish I'd come in first, but considering the fact that none of us did that much preparation for this, especially compared to the kids from other schools, I think we did pretty well,” he said. “And what's more, we came in ninth place in the state, with only eight competitors and three awards, while facing representatives from huge schools with people placed in the yearbook categories as well. So I think that overall, it was a pretty fun experience, and that we did exceptionally well considering all of the variables.”

Added Bagchi: “We may not have placed in every category, but everyone who participated is a great journalist. So it was a great experience. Stressful, but in the end, a lot of fun.”

RELATED

— Gargoyle coverage: Eight Uni students qualify for state finals in journalism

— External link: 2006 IHSA state final results