On Thursday, April 7, The Champion tied for first place for the sweepstakes award with the Jones College Prep Blueprint at the 2022 Scholastic Press Association of Chicago & McCormick Foundation High School Media Awards. The annual competition, held virtually this year, honors the top high school student journalism in Chicago.

The sweepstakes award is given to the highest scoring paper based on points given for winning other awards at the competiton.

Editor-in-Chief Mara Mellits won the presitgious Chicago High School Journalist of the Year award, and Alex Burstein, Theo Gary and Mara Mellits won the timed write-off competition in the sports, opinion and feature categories respectively.

In addition to those awards, our staff brought home seventeen individual awards – 10 superior designations for the top work in the category and seven excellent designations of other noteworthy work.

Read the award-winning work here:

The Champion – Overall Newspaper (Superior)

The Champion – Overall Layout/Design (Superior)

Aidan Sadovi – News Story (Excellent)

Aidan Sadovi, Mara Mellits, Alex Burstein, & Niamh Dillon – Special Coverage (Superior)

Mara Mellits – Feature Story (Superior)

Mara Mellits – Personality Profile (Superior)

The Champion Editorial Board – Staff Editorial (Superior)

Theo Gary – Sports News Story (Excellent)

Saskia McDonogh Mooney – Sports Feature Story (Superior)

Mara Mellits – Sports Photo (Excellent)

Mara Mellits – Non-Sports Photo (Excellent)

Sui Yee Tam – Editorial Cartoon (Excellent)

Sui Yee Tam – Computer Graphics (Superior)

Sui Yee Tam – Original Drawing or Comic (Excellent)

Breanna Williams – Entertainment Review (Superior)

Lauren Sitrin – Community Story (Superior)