At the Northern Illinois Scholastic Press Association (NISPA) awards held at College of DuPage on Friday, April 22, LION took home the highest overall award for journalism excellence by winning the coveted Golden Eagle. The LION website also won a Golden Certificate for its online excellence.

The staff submitted three consecutive issues for the NISPA judges in January, as well as many separate stories and graphics that were judged individually. Although the LION staff wasn’t able to make it to the award presentation because it was a School Institute Day, multiple LION journalists received individual honors. Overall, LION staffers placed in nine individual contests, winning six Blue Ribbons and three Honorable Mentions.

“I am very proud with the success we’ve had as a staff this year,” Managing Editor Gaby Sabatino ‘16 said.  “It’s great to know that this group of LION staffers can continue the tradition of winning the Golden Eagle.”

Sabatino won Honorable Mention in News Writing for her print story “LT staff responds to tragedy,” MelRose Buckler ‘16 won a Blue Ribbon in Feature Writing for her gun control article “School safety,” Ceili Doyle ‘16 won Honorable Mention in Web: Breaking News, “Tragedy strikes LT community” and a Blue Ribbon in Editorials for her “16 shots” article, Phil Smith ‘17 won an Honorable Mention in Column Writing for “Philoshophy” and a Blue Ribbon in Individual In-Depth for his sports story “Muscle Activation,” Bailey Blum ‘16 won an Honorable Mention for Sports Writing on his column “New Era,” Lauren Hucko ‘16 won a Blue Ribbon for her Review “Small Cheval delivers flavor”, Izy Scott ’16 and Sabatino won a Blue Ribbon for Graphics and Heidi Hauch ‘16 won a Blue Ribbon for Ad Design for “Yumz.”