Growing Community Media won big at the 2024 Illinois Press Association convention this week.
At the annual convention in Bloomington, held June 6, the nonprofit — which is the parent company of the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park & River Forest, Austin Weekly News, the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark and the Forest Park Review — took home 16 first-place awards and 35 total awards across editorial and advertising categories.
The first-place awards are as follows:
- Best one-time special section — Wednesday Journal
- Best website, nondaily — Wednesday Journal
- Editorial page, nondaily — Wednesday Journal
- Original column, Division C — Wednesday Journal — “Someone who cared” by Harriet Hausman
- Informational graphic, Division C — Wednesday Journal — Andy Mead
- General excellence, Division A — Forest Park Review
- News reporting, series, Division A — Forest Park Review — D209 election coverage by Amaris E. Rodriguez
- Feature writing, Division A — Forest Park Review — “Proviso West teacher champions trade school as a path for students” by Amaris E. Rodriguez
- Special sections, Division A — Forest Park Review — Forest Park Community Guide 2023
- Local editorial, Division A — Forest Park Review — “Petty politics on council” by Dan Haley
- General advertising excellence, Division G — Forest Park Review
- Newspaper design, nondaily — Riverside-Brookfield Landmark — Javier Govea, Andy Mead
- News reporting, single story, Division B — Riverside-Brookfield Landmark — “Brookfield True Value closing its doors” by Amina Sergazina
- Obituary tribute, Division B — Riverside-Brookfield Landmark — “JoAnne Kosey personified community involvement” by Bob Uphues
- Feature writing, Division B — Riverside-Brookfield Landmark — “Hard work, some play pay off for Riverside ballerina in starring role” by Erika Hobbs
- Informational graphic, Division B — Riverside-Brookfield Landmark — Javier Govea
In addition to first-place awards, Growing Community Media’s newspapers also placed in the general excellence categories based on circulation. The Forest Park Review came in second place for the best small, nondaily newspaper in Illinois. The Riverside-Brookfield Landmark also placed second for the best medium, nondaily paper. The Wednesday Journal placed fourth for the best large, nondaily paper.
For news reporting series in Division C, Austin Weekly News placed second for a series on the West Side’s opioid crisis by Francia Garcia-Hernandez. In the same category, the Wednesday Journal placed third for Erika Hobbs’s series on migrants in Oak Park who are seeking asylum.
For feature writing in Division A, the Forest Park Review placed fourth for “Anastosios Doulas, Kyriacos Philippou, Elias Politis” by Tom Holmes. The Forest Park Review also placed first in that category.
For spot news photos in Division A, the Forest Park Review placed second for a photo shot by Todd Bannor for a story titled, “Sunday flooding brings Ike to a halt.” For the same category in Division C, the Wednesday Journal placed third for a photo shot by Amaris E. Rodriguez for her story titled “‘This is not a new issue to OPRF,’ students say during Friday walkout.”
For newspaper design, nondaily, the Wednesday Journal placed third for designs by Javier Govea and Susan McKelvey.
For special sections in Division A, the Forest Park Review placed third for No Glove Nationals 2023. The Forest Park Review also placed first in this category.
For special sections in Division B, the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark placed second for the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark Answer Book 2023.
For special sections in Division C, Austin Weekly News placed second for At Home on the Greater West Side. Wednesday Journal placed third for the Wednesday Journal Answer Book 2023/24.
For nondaily websites, the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark placed second.
