Individuals or teams of U-High journalists were announced as national Top 10 finalists for 12 individual awards from the National Scholastic Press Association, a school record, while the U-High Midway is one of 41 national finalists for the 2025 Newspaper Pacemaker Award, and the only finalist from Illinois.
This marks the 18th time that the Midway has been on the Pacemaker list. The Midway has won the award 13 times.
The awards recognize work from the 2024-25 school year. In three of the categories, two of the 10 finalists are U-High journalists. Winners will be announced Nov. 15.
Photojournalism teacher Jayna Rumble thinks that while the Midway has always been successful, it has grown especially in the last year, specifically in photojournalism.
“This year, there’s more of a culture of success and finding new ways to improve and innovate and be creative,” Ms. Rumble said.
Ms. Rumble thinks that U-High journalism’s spirit of new ideas and focus has contributed especially to this growth.
“In general, all our journalism teams are rethinking how we do things and not reusing the formula of success that we used last year,” she said.
Editor-in-chief Light Dohrn, a senior, is a finalist for the Digital Story of the Year Award in the podcast category.
“On a personal level, I feel so proud to be a part of it,” she said. “It’s a huge honor not only to be part of a team that gets this kind of award but also to be a part of this group of individuals that inspire each other each day.”
Individual Student Awards for National Scholastic Press Association:
- Design of the Year, Newspaper Front Page: Taariq Ahmed, DEI Celebrated Amid Backlash
- Design of the Year, Illustration: Sygne Stole, Addicted to the Algorithm
- Digital Story of the Year, Photo Slideshow: Staff, Moments of Intensity
- Digital Story of the Year, Photo Slideshow: Bryce Kenny, Olin Nafziger, Orlie Weitzman, Exchange Students Arrive from China
- Digital Story of the Year, Podcast: Light Dohrn, Dungeons & Dragons Fosters Creativity, Connection
- Photo of the Year, News: Olin Nafziger, DNC Celebrity Selfie
- Photo of the Year, News: Ellis Calleri, Super Splash
- Photo of the Year, Feature: Simon Vaang, Chemical Concentration
- Photo of the Year, Sports Feature: Henry Benton, Water Break
- Photo of the Year, Environmental Portrait: Delaney Connell, Totally Hooked (Mia Lane)
- Portfolio of the Year, Photojournalist of the Year: Delaney Connell
- Portfolio of the Year, Photojournalist of the Year: Simon Vaang
