RMSH student wins state journalism award

Rolling Meadows High School senior Alexandria Johnson, editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Pacer, has been named 2011 Illinois Scholastic Journalist of the Year by the Illinois Journalism Education Association (IJEA).

It is the second consecutive year that a Rolling Meadows journalist has been named Scholastic Journalist of the Year.

The 2010 winner was Jimmy Hibsch of Arlington Heights. It is the first time since the IJEA started the Journalist of the Year competition in 1992 that a school has had consecutive winners.

Now in contention for the title of National Journalist of the Year, Johnson will attend the JEA's spring conference April 14-17 in California, along with the other state champions, where the national winner will be announced.

She will also be recognized by the IJEA at its annual awards luncheon at the Governor's Mansion in Springfield on June 4.

“Alexandria has an amazing passion to produce a quality newspaper,” said Stan Zoller, RMHS English teacher and adviser for The Pacer. “She is an excellent all-around journalist who has tremendous reporting and leadership skills. Her desire to make The Pacer an excellent newspaper has been an inspiration to the entire Pacer staff.”

The state winners' portfolios will be judged at the conference and scholarship winners will be announced at the convention's concluding ceremony. The top winner will be awarded $5,000 and runners-up, $2,000 each in scholarship funds.

She is the daughter of Jim and Dori Johnson of Rolling Meadows.