The Independent wins thirteen ICPA awards

Recognized for journalistic excellence, the Independent garnered 13 awards at the annual meeting of the Illinois College Press Association's (ICPA) convention last weekend in downtown Chicago.

This year's tally tied the record of 13 awards given to the Independent in 2004. The Independent has won 37 awards over the last three years from the ICPA.

Subjects covered at the conference ranged from photography and design to legal issues ranging from changes to the Federal Educational Records Protection Act (FERPA) to the implications of the Hosty v. Carter, Governor's State University case involving censorship.

In the open category, competing with all Illinois university newspapers, the Independent won the following:

1st place in house promotional advertisement for "Learn to handle the pressure" by Cecilia Carboni

In the non-daily newspapers at universites with 4,000 students or more, which includes Bradley University, DePaul, Loyola and UIC, the Independent won the following:

1st place staff editorial by the Independent Editorial Board of Editor-in-Chief Patrick O'Brien, Associate Editor Elizabeth Rodriguez, News Editor Tom Robb, Business Manager Amy Scoma, Production Manager Duncan Macnab, former Opinions Editor Nick Gaudio and former Business Manager Martii Kuznicki

Honorable Mention news story for "Controversial art gets attention of Secret Service" by Features Editor Jo Cook

Honorable mention news story for "Bringing the baby to class" by News Editor Tom Robb

Honorable mention column non-sports for Old Man on Campus "Lets talk about it" by Former Columnist "Old Man" Joe Hertel

Honorable mention column non-sports for A Closer Look "The Quiet Back Door Draft" by News Editor Tom Robb

1st place headline writing for "Where there's smoke there's ire" by Online Editor Amanda Dalal

2nd place headline writing for "iPod there for iLearn" by Online Editor Amanda Dalal

Honorable mention news photo for "Streets swell with immigrant marchers on May Day" by News Editor Tom Robb

Honorable mention special supplement for the Freshman's Survival Guide by the Independent Staff

2nd place front-page layout for "Students staff riding brown line feel bulldozed" by Production Manager Duncan Macnab, former Production Manager Azucena Beltran and Editor-in-Chief Patrick O'Brien.

3rd place sports page design for "Rockstars premiere at NEIU" by Production Manager Duncan Macnab

Honorable mention sports page design for "Play Ball!" by Production Manager Duncan Macnab