Brandon Hoops
Kate McDonough
Future journalists earn scholarships
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| Brandon Hoops | Kate McDonough |
High-school journalists from Freeport, Naperville and Rolling Meadows have won scholarships in NINA's annual competition.
Brandon Hoops of Freeport High School placed first. Judges were impressed with his professional-quality work as a sports writer for both his student newspaper, Pretz News, and for the Freeport Journal-Standard.
Hoops receives a total of $600: $300 from NINA and a matching $300 from the Journal-Standard.The second-place winner, with a $200 scholarship from NINA, was Kate McDonough of Naperville Central High School. Judges based their decision on McDonough's outstanding work in the school's student newspaper, The Central Times.
She is the second student from Naperville Central to win a NINA scholarship since the program was started in 1998.
Tamara Kosic of Rolling Meadows High School placed third. Judges were impressed by several in-depth articles she wrote for her student newspaper, The Pacer. She wins $100.
"As in previous years, our judges found it very difficult to select the three winning entries," said scholarship coordinator John Etheredge of the Ledger Sentinel in Oswego. "In examining the portfolios of our applicants, it is evident that there are several high-quality student newspapers being published by students thoughout northern Illinois."
More than 150 high-school students have applied for scholarships since NINA established the program in 1998. In the four years the program has been offered, NINA has awarded a total of $4,300 to 10 graduating seniors.
This year, NINA received 24 applications from students in public and private high schools throughout Illinois. NINA awarded a total of $900 in scholarships: $600 from our own coffers and $300 from the Freeport Journal-Standard.
Other newspapers and newspaper groups to contribute scholarship funds to this program over the years have included the Daily Herald, Northwest Herald, Kendall County Record Newspapers, Copley Newspapers and The Observer in Rockford.
The scholarship program strives to recognize outstanding achievement by high-school students in the field of print journalism. The program is intended to encourage promising high-school journalists to pursue the profession at the college level.
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