The LLCC student newspaper, The Lamp, won first place in the John M. Ryan Best of Show at the Illinois Community College Journalism Association’s fall 2019 conference at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. The award is given to the community college with the single best issue of any student newspaper.

The judge wrote: “The most editorially robust paper among the entries. This paper provides readers with an appropriate mix of hard news, features, photography and sports. The writing and editing are strong, allowing reporters to breathe life into stories while staying true to journalistic standards. The papers designers provide a solid mix of traditional presentation and looser, more inviting and provocative publications. A quality publication in all aspects.”

Left to right: Tess Peterson, Tim McKenzie (advisor), Quinn Brown, Regina Ivy (editor-in-chief), Austin Sanderfield, Ryan Scott, Paul Watson and Cameron Boyer

Tim McKenzie, professor of journalism and humanities, is pictured with the seven Lamp staff members who attended the two-day conference at EIU, where they learned from journalism educators and professional journalists, such as an editor from the Chicago Tribune. They also heard from the director of the Illinois Press Foundation, Jeff Rogers, who is overseeing the creation of a news bureau in Springfield to cover state government. He talked about how non-profits are finding a place in the traditional for-profit media landscape.