On Friday, April 10 at the annual Northern Illinois Scholastic Press Association (NISPA) conference, held at the College of DuPage, The Oracle and the Etruscan took home numerous awards, and finished off the trip taking home a Golden Eagle each, the conference’s most prestigious award.

In total, 23 members from both publications traveled to the journalism conference with Bob Wysocki, The Oracle adviser and English Teacher, and Kristen Porter, Etruscan adviser and English Teacher. The annual event aims to highlight the accomplishments and education of high school journalists, according to NISPA’s website, nispaonline.org. During the event, students attended a keynote address by Renita Young, Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University, went to short classes on journalism, and concluded with an awards ceremony, Wysocki said.

“This year, over 600 high school journalists attended the conference,”

Wysocki said. “To me, that says that journalism is still relevant despite what some people might think.”

To end the day, the awards ceremony honored individual student journalists as well as high school publications as a whole. The Etruscan received blue ribbons, the highest award in each category, for photography, coverage, design, copy, yearbook theme, and their yearbook, as well as a Golden Eagle. Members of The Oracle staff received individual blue ribbons in column writing, feature writing, news writing, opinion writing, profile writing, review writing, sports writing, and graphics, as well as honorable mentions in breaking news writing, editorial writing, and photography. The Oracle also won silver overall for its website, gold overall for its print editions, and a Golden Eagle, Wysocki said.

“The Golden Eagle reflects the work done by everyone involved in creating the paper, from the Editor-In-Chiefs to staff writers,” Wysocki said. “The Oracle staff is diligent and creative, and ensures the perpetuation of high journalistic standards – all of that should be rewarded. I am proud of everyone on staff.”