Senior Meredith Bill, The Oracle Managing Editor, was named the State Champion in Editorial Writing when The Oracle and Etruscan competed at the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Journalism Finals at Heartland Community College in Normal, IL.
Senior Anna Ivanov, The Oracle Co-Editor-In-Chief, placed second in Yearbook Caption Writing for the second year in a row and senior Daryna Brodyk, The Oracle Images Editor, placed fourth in Advertising. The Etruscan took home awards as well, as juniors Amrita Khosbayar, Etruscan Designer, and Evan Bosch, Etruscan staff member, placed second in Yearbook Theme Development. In addition, South placed fourth in state overall, according to ihsa.org. Placing first, Bill reflected on what helped her perform so well.
“I love writing, so that made competing easier,” Bill said. “I went in with the mindset that I already made it to state, I am with my friends, I am really proud of the rest of my team, and I am proud of myself for getting there.”
Sectionals took place on Saturday, April 11, and over 100 schools competed remotely in 18 different events, Bob Wysocki, The Oracle Adviser and English Teacher, said. The students get a prompt at the start of their competition to write a story, design a page, create an ad, or create an illustration, Wysocki explained. The top three in each event are said qualified to compete at state, where they compete in the same category, but with a different prompt. Seven South students qualified for state, and at state awards, they start with sixth place and work their way up to first, going alphabetically by event, Wysocki said.
“I tend to watch the students reaction first,” Wysocki said. “They announced first place, and Meredith shrieked. Then I shrieked, and everybody else that was with us started to cheer.”
This was Khosbayar’s first year competing at IHSA. To prepare, she spent time looking through the Jostens Look Book, a collection of award-winning yearbook designs, at various layouts, typographies, graphics, and how different yearbooks ensured the theme was represented throughout the book.
In Yearbook Theme Development, Khosbayar and Bosch worked together to help a reader navigate a yearbook by creating a cover, title page, and dividers, based on the theme “A Picture is Worth 2026 Words,” which they received at the start of their competition. Competing at sectionals helped her feel a lot more prepared and relaxed at state, especially because her and Bosch placed first at sectionals, Khosbayar said.
“I was definitely nervous, but also really excited because I had never competed at IHSA before,” Khosbayar said. “Having Evan there helped a lot because we could bounce ideas off each other, and it made the whole process feel less stressful and more collaborative.”
Students do not join these publications to compete, and sometimes they do not even know that there are competitions when they join, Wysocki said. Just having the opportunity to compete at state is something that these students should feel proud about, Wysocki said.
“The kids that just qualified to go to state are a big deal,” Wysocki said. “I can not say enough about how proud I feel and how proud the school should feel about these kids because they are being recognized for a talent that they have and have honed over the course of how long they have been on the paper.”
