Phoenix sweeps newspaper contest

March 3, 2021

The Phoenix, Loyola University Chicago’s student newspaper, won 25 awards including runner up in general excellence for non-daily collegiate newspapers at the Illinois College Press Association convention.

The Phoenix placed twice in some categories and took home awards for front page layout, editorial, opinion, column excluding sports, feature page design, news story, sports new story, sports game story, sports feature story, sports column, sports page design, in-depth reporting, headline writing, photo essay, sports photo, general news photo, spot news photo, multimedia reporting, and podcasting.

The newspaper also tied for first place for best online news site. The online news site award is especially signficant at a time when the Phoenix has been unable to print the newspaper due to COVID-19 health concerns.

The Phoenix was up against a myriad of other college and university newspapers including DePaul University, University of Chicago, and Columbia College.

The Illinois College Press Association hosted its 38th annual convention and college media awards virtually on Friday, February 19 and Saturday, February 20. Jim DeRogatis, music critic and co-host of Sound Opinions, and author of Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly, delivered the keynote address on Friday, February 19.

Here are the awards won by the Phoenix:

Sweepstakes (General Excellence Award) for Non-Dailies, Over 4000

• Runner Up: Loyola Phoenix, Loyola University Chicago 

Online News Site

• 1st place tie: Kashyap Patel 

Front Page Layout 

• 2nd place: Mary Norkol & Larissa Paseta, Front Pages

Editorial 

• Honorable Mention 1: Why We Should Care About the Tribune Crashing
• Honorable Mention 2: Loyola Preaches Social Justice but Falls Short When It Comes to Indigenous Peoples Day

Opinion Page 

• 2nd place: Adrian Nevarez, Opinion Pages  

Column Excluding Sports 

• Honorable Mention: Mary Norkol, From the Phoenix Newsroom, One Last Time

Feature Page Design 

• 1st place: Mary Grace Ritter, Trashy Tradition? What Students Really Think of 'The Bachelor'

News Story 

• 1st place: Leen Yassine, Loyola Investigates 'Toxic' Undergraduate Admission Office After Resignation of Associate Director

Sports News Story 

• 1st place: Kyle Brown, 'Majority' of Loyola Men's Basketball Team Tests Positive for COVID-19

Sports Game Story 

• 2nd place: Kyle Brown & Nick Schultz, Free Throws Doom Loyola in Season-Ending, Overtime Loss to Valparaiso at Arch Madness
  
  
• Honorable Mention: Kyle Brown, 'We Gotta Grow Up': Valparaiso Comes Back to Stun Loyola Women's Basketball

Sports Feature Story 

• Honorable Mention: Abby Schnable, 'It's Serious Business': The Science of Porter Moser's Iconic Jacket Toss

Sports Column 

• 1st place: Lu Calzada, Why Politics and Sports Will Never Be Divided
• 2nd place: Abby Schnable, As a Female Sports Journalist Entering the Field in a Year, The Post Story is So Scary

Sports Page Design 

• 1st place: Larissa Paseta & Abby Schnable, Whenever That Jacket Comes Off It's Game Time
• Honorable Mention: Zack Miller, Larissa Paseta & Nick Schultz, Wild Weekend Puts the 'Madness' in Arch Madness

In-Depth Reporting 

• 2nd place: Mary Chappell & Kayleigh Padar, A Student Was Expelled from Loyola After a Rape Allegation. Then He Walked the Stage at Graduation.

Headline Writing

• 3rd place: Rylee Tan, Don't Fear the Reefer: 8 Things to Know About Legal Weed

Photo Essay 

• Honorable Mention: Zack Miller, Photo Essays

Sports Photo 

• 1st place: Zack Miller, Bradley Celebrates  

General News Photo 

• Honorable Mention: Zack Miller, Lori Lightfoot at Women's March  

Spot News Photo  

• Honorable Mention: Zack Miller, Chicago Cops  

Multimedia Reporting

• 2nd place: Zack Miller, Rogers Park Composer, Producer and Musician Mike Kirkpatrick Leaves Legacy   

Podcast

• Honorable Mention: Mary Chappell & Luis Mejia Ahrens for The Byline: Loyola, Rome, Chicago and Coronavirus