​​Lane’s student newspaper, The Champion, took first place in our annual citywide journalism competition, the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago & McCormick Foundation High School Media Awards & Conference. Congratulations to our journalism students on this recognition of their outstanding reporting, writing, photography, design and artwork!

We would like to offer special congratulations to Alex Burstein, who won nine awards, including the sports write-off competition for the third consecutive year, and who has written well over 100 articles during his four years at Lane. And for today’s keynote address, Alex interviewed Mauricio Pena, a reporter at Chalkbeat, on stage.

Here are the details for all the awards, including links to each award-winning story or art:

Superior Overall Newspaper and Superior Overall Website – Editors Alex Burstein, Megan Mesikapp, Saskia McDonogh Mooney, Ruby Thompson, Yaniya Gilford, Nina Figurelli, Meghan Mansfield, Mariah Shaikh, Avaani Julka, Charlotte Price, and Oliver Gerharz

Nina Figurelli – News Story (Excellent) 

Alex Burstein, Ruby Thompson, Yaniya Gilford, and Annie Fenner – Special coverage (Superior)

Ruby Thompson – General Feature Story (Excellent)

Alex Burstein – Personality Profile (Superior)

Saskia McDonogh Mooney – Community Story (Excellent)

Saskia McDonogh Mooney & Champion Editors – Staff Editorial (Excellent)

Nina Figurelli – Opinion Piece (Superior)

Alex Burstein – Sports News Story (Superior)

Alex Burstein – Sports Feature Story (Superior)

Charlotte Price – Original Editorial Cartoon (Superior) Full article

Ruby Thompson – Computer Graphics (Superior) Full article

Nina Figurelli – Entertainment Review (Superior)

Ruby Thompson – Sports Photo (Superior) Full article 

Ruby Thompson – Non-sports Photo (Superior) Full article

Alex Burstein and Megan Mesikapp – Broadcast News Story (Excellent)

Alex Burstein – Broadcast Sports Story (Excellent)

Alex Burstein and Sharon Moreno – Best Audio Journalism (Superior)

Alex Burstein — Winner of the Sports Write-Off Competition (3-time defending champion)