The work of student journalists at The Knox Student, including the photo above, earned 21 awards from the Illinois College Press Association in Chicago on February 20. The awards, which covered a wide spectrum of categories—including feature story, sport photography, feature design, and podcast—show the diverse talents of TKS staff.

The Knox Student is the College’s official student newspaper. Produced weekly, TKS has been student-written, student-run, and student-read since 1878. It is also a perennial ICPA honoree. In 2020, the paper took home 14 awards, including a first-place award for in-depth/investigative reporting, following a record 25 wins in 2019. In 2017 and 2018, TKS earned IPCA's first-place award in General Excellence.

These aren't the only honors TKS has garnered in recent months. In October 2020, TKS was named a finalist for the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Award , collegiate journalism’s preeminent honor, which it previously won in 2017.

“I’m so incredibly proud of my staff for all of the work they do,” said Co-Editor-In-Chief Sadie Cheney ’21. “This year was the first time I have gotten an award from ICPA, which was such a cool thing to experience. The validation of receiving an honor for all the work we do was something that I really cherished.”

Along with this year’s individual awards—the second-highest number in TKS history—the newspaper earned second place for the Sweepstakes award, which has taken the place of the General Excellence award.

“Even if we had a rough year, we still put out content that we are proud of,” Cheney continued. “Even though we all hear the words ‘we are living through uncertain times’ almost every single day, it’s true. Who better to tell the lived experiences of a college student living through a pandemic than a college student living through a pandemic?”

Members of the Knox community can submit columns or letters to the editors at any time that will be featured in the discourse section. Learn more about getting involved with TKS.

Detailed awards and recipients are listed below: 

• 1st Place—Feature Story: Sam Lisec ’21
• 1st Place—Sports News Story: Kyle Williams ’22
• 1st Place—Sports Column: Caroline Clink ’23
• 1st Place—Sports Page Design: Kyle Williams ’22
• 1st Place—Feature Photo: Rob Nguyen ’21
• 1st Place—Sports Photo: Katy Coseglia ’20
• 1st Place—Spot News Photo: Rob Nguyen ’21
• 1st Place—Podcast: Sam Lisec ’21
• 2nd Place—Editorial Cartoon: Lily Lauver ’21
• 2nd Place—Front Page Layout: Carlos Flores-Gaytan ’21, Sam Lisec ’21
• 2nd Place—Sports News Story: Kyle Williams ’22
• 2nd Place—Sports Feature Story: Kyle Williams ’22
• 2nd Place—Online News Site: Ali Saadi ’21
• 3rd Place—Feature Page Design: Sadie Cheney ’21, Alicia Olejniczak ’21
• 3rd Place—Sports Column: Kyle Williams ’22
• 3rd Place—General News Photo: Alicia Olejniczak ’21
• 3rd Place—Multimedia Reporting: Pravaek Pradhan ’21
• Honorable Mention—Feature Page Design: Sadie Cheney ’21, Alicia Olejniczak ’21
• Honorable Mention—News Story: Carlos Flores-Gaytan ’21
• Honorable Mention—Sports Feature Story: Kyle Williams ’22
• Honorable Mention—In-Depth Reporting: Sarah Eitel ’21

Pictured above: Alicia Olejniczak '21's ICPA award-winning photo of the 2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucus.