Posted Sunday, April 30, 2006, The OG, news

Senior Angelina Liang won second place in computer-generated graphics at the IHSA state journalism contest held Saturday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Senior Annie Fehrenbacher joined Liang as a state medalist, with a third-place finish in copy editing and a fifth-place finish in headline writing/caption writing.

Other Uni students who placed in the top 10 in their categories were senior Max Goldberg, seventh place, editorial cartooning; junior Daisy Hassani, eighth place, advertising; and senior Matthew Freeman, ninth place, sports writing.

The Uni squad, consisting of students from Gargoyle and Yearbook, earned 11 points overall, sixth highest total in the 55-school, 15-event contest. Naperville Central and New Trier tied for first place with 21.5 points. Oakwood followed close behind with 19 points.

This is the first year that the IHSA has held a journalism competition. The events ranged from news writing and feature writing to photography and yearbook layout. Competitors in each category had 90 minutes to complete their work (except students in photography, who had three hours). Judges then used official rubrics to score each entry.

The first stage of the competition took place on April 22, when sectionals were held at six locations. Uni students won the University of Illinois sectional title, qualifying for finals in 13 of the 15 events.

Three schools from the U of I sectional finished ahead of Uni at the state contest — Oakwood, Peoria Richwoods, and Champaign Centennial.

“It's great that Oakwood, with 290 students, could come so close to knocking off huge schools like Naperville Central, with 3,100 students, and New Trier, with 4,000,” said David Porreca, Gargoyle adviser and team sponsor. “It gives us something to shoot for next year.”

— Gargoyle staff