The Daily Eastern News staff won 34 awards at the Illinois Collegiate Press Association this past weekend in Chicago.

The staff beat its previous record of 28 awards set at last year’s ICPA in both first and second placings.

The contest is divided up by school size and were judged by a panel of around 40 former and current journalists. The News competed in the medium-sized category for schools with 3,000-6,999 full-time enrolled students against five other schools with a total of 151 submissions.

The News won nine first places, 11 second places, six third places and eight honorable mentions.

Editorial adviser Tim Drachlis said his students’ passion is admirable.

“These awards are indicators of all the hard work that the students put in every day,” said Drachlis.

Overall

The staff won second place in print general excellence and third for website excellence. The staff was also the second highest earning school in the medium-sized category.

News

Former Editor-in-Chief Luke Taylor won first place for his feature story about the gamer’s guild. The staff also received first for the story’s headline.

Taylor and Editor-in-Chief  Rob Le Cates also won first place for their multimedia story on the “Xanadu” performance last spring.

The staff won first place for diversity, equity and inclusion reporting for its women’s history month edition last spring.

Former Editor-in-Chief Madelyn Kidd, News Editor Cam’ron Hardy and former Junior Features Editor Adriana Hernandez-Santana also won third place for their in-depth reporting for the sexual assault edition.

Kidd and Hardy received an honorable mention for the UPI strike announcement story.

Sports

Columnist Nick Bays won second place for a column about international sports written over the summer.

Former Sports Editor Autumn Schulz received an honorable mention for a sports news story about the history of sexual assault in Eastern athletics.

Former sports staff member Han Byer and former long-time Photo Editor Ashanti Thomas received an honorable mention for a feature story written about the head volleyball coach Sara Thomas.

Photo

Ashanti Thomas won one first place for a general news photo for a Palestine vigil held last semester.

Thomas also took home three second places for a photo essay about a mariachi band visiting campus, a general news photo of UPI handing former University President David Glassman their strike notice and a beach volleyball sports action photo. In addition, she won an honorable mention for a feature photo of the mariachi band.

Le Cates won one second and two third place awards. His second place award was a feature photo from Unofficial last year, and his two third place awards were a spot news photo from Unofficial and a sports reaction photo of the volleyball team.

The staff won third place for a photo essay about the first few days of the UPI strike.

Opinions

The staff won first place in opinion pages for the third year running in its sexual assault-themed edition last spring and second from a page about the faculty strike last spring.

Taylor won first place for his Trans Day of Visibility column and Dan Hahn won an honorable mention for a column written during the UPI strike.

The staff received an honorable mention for an editorial written about the UPI strike.

Podcasting

Sports reporters Aidan Cusack and Patrick Schmitz won first place for their sports podcast highlighting football player Stone Galloway.

Schulz and former Assistant Sports Editor Kate Stevens won second place for their sports podcast called Getting Emotional.

Hardy and columnist Drew Coffey won second and third for their movie analysis podcast Two Dudes Talk Movies.

Design

The staff won first place for their front page from March 22 about UPI reaching a 95% agreement on striking and second for a sports page about Cheeto the cat.

Kidd also received an honorable mention for a feature page about the gamer’s guild RSO.

The Editorial Board can be reached at 581-2812 or deneic@gmail.com.