U-High student journalists for the newspaper, news website and yearbook recently received a variety of awards for writing, photojournalism, design and more in contests from the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago and from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association at Columbia University.
From CSPA, the U-High Midway received its 29th Gold Crown Award, one of the top national awards in scholastic journalism.
The awards from the SPAC were announced on March 20, and the eligibility period was from Jan. 28, 2025, until Jan. 28, 2026. The results included a superior for both the overall newspaper and the website, in addition to 17 student awards, leading to the team’s third consecutive Sweepstakes award.
U-High’s 20 Gold Circle awards were announced March 31 for print and online student work during the 2024-25 school year.
Senior Light Dohrn, an editor-in-chief of the Midway, explained what has helped the team collectively.
“You are always being supported and guided and mentored by those in the level above you,” Light said. “For me, when I was a cub reporter and an assistant editor, my absolute happiest moments were getting compliments from the higher up.”
Arts and entertainment editor Lila Coyne, a junior, won three excellent awards, including one for feature writing. She said the award highlighted her drastic improvement in feature stories that she wrote over the years.
“I think practicing that medium and taking joy in getting to highlight other people through feature stories and finding the telling detail that would make them pop on the page has been a real pleasure,” Lila said.
Sophomore Chloé Tyndall, an assistant editor, won her first individual SPAC award this year for her news story “English department’s Grammarly ban begins.” Chloé explained that this story was special to her, since she advocated to have it assigned to her.
“I think because there was such a variety of opinions,” she said, “it just really helped the story have depth and show how exactly, not only Grammarly, but also AI in general has impacted our community.”
Senior Ruby Koyner, an editor-in-chief of the U-Highlights yearbook who received two Gold Circle awards for Yearbook spreads, attributes her success to being proud of the yearbook.
“I think that a lot of what contributed to these experiences was being proud of the actual concept of the book and wanting everything to seem so fluid,” Ruby said.
For her, yearbook is an outlet for creativity and a class unlike most others at U-High.
“It’s a place where I can connect with my community,” Ruby said, “but also work on something impactful that stays with people.”
Complete awards lists appear below.
U-High Midway awards from SPAC:
- Broadcast news story: Ari Novak, Calder Wong, superior
- News story: Chloé Tyndall, superior
- Computer graphic/original art: Tyra DeWeese, superior
- Editorial cartoon: Claire Dong, superior
- Entertainment review: Light Dohrn, superior
- Photo, nonsports: Simon Vaang, superior
- Photo, sports: Bryce Kenny, superior
- Special coverage: Light Dohrn, Ari Novak, Cecily Bensmaia, Kabir Joshi, Nadia Washington, Nola Baldassare, superior
- Sports feature story: Naomi Benton, superior
- Sports news story: Sohana Schneider, superior
- Broadcast feature story: Nadia Washington, excellent
- Community story: Lila Coyne, excellent
- General feature story: Lila Coyne, excellent
- Opinion column: Orlie Weitzman, excellent
- Staff editorial: Lila Coyne, excellent
Gold Circle Awards for the U-High Midway (print and online):
- Computer generated art/illustration, first place: Sygne Stole, Addicted to the Algorithm
- Alternative story presentation, second place: Sohana Schneider, Ilana Umanskiy, Slice of the City, Volume 100, Issue 8, Page 16, Feb. 20, 2025
- Digital single spot news photograph, second place: Alex Diamond, Ice bucket challenge
- Digital single sports photograph, second place: Simon Vaang, Smooth sailing (Image 12 sailing)
- Digital photo illustration, second place: Estelle Levinson, Interest in election intensifies
- Photo slideshow, second place: Bryce Kenny, Olin Nafziger (Class of 2025), Orlie Weitzman, Exchange students arrive from China; Lunar New Year performance amazes
- Single subject news or feature package, single page design, third place: Skye Freeman (Class of 2025), Meaning of Masculinity, Volume 100, Issue 9, Page 12, April 10, 2025
- Computer generated art/illustration, certificate of merit: Ilana Umanskiy, Problematic ‘confessions’ shared
- Digital personal opinion: on-campus issues, certificate of merit: Orlie Weitzman, Be transparent about hidden cost of high achievement
- General feature, certificate of merit: Lila Coyne, Cooking up success: Students turn culinary passion into profit, social media presence
- Op-ed or news analysis page design, certificate of merit: Kabir Joshi, Volume 100, Issue 8, Page 7, Feb. 20, 2025
- Photo slideshow, certificate of merit: Lila Coyne, Juliana Daugherty, Ari Novak, Sohana Schneider, Lucy Shirrell, Caroline Skelly, Declan Smith, Ryan Burke-Stevenson, Ellis Calleri, Delaney Connell, N.C. Gunning, Bryce Kenny, Devyn Moubayed, Eli Raikhel, Simon Vaang, and Calder Wong, Gallery: Moments of Intensity
- Podcast, certificate of merit: Light Dohrn, Audio: Dungeons & Dragons fosters creativity, connection
Gold Circle Awards for the 2025 U-Highlights yearbook:
- Yearbook academic photo, first place: Simon Vaang, “Drip Drip”
- Yearbook photo portfolio, second place: Simon Vaang
- Yearbook sports spread: one spread, second place: Jasmin Brooks, Ruby Koyner, Grace LaBelle, “Charting a New Course,”
- Yearbook informational graphics: single, third place: Jasmin Brooks, Daniel Chang, Amelia Tan, “ABCs”
- Yearbook Headline Writing, certificate of merit: 2025 U-Highlights staff
- Yearbook sports action photo, certificate of merit: Bryce Kenny, “One Dribble at a Time”
- Yearbook opening and closing spread design, certificate of merit: Daniel Chang, Ruby Koyner, Amelia Tan
