Daily Herald takes top honors in regional journalism awards

For both its print and online editions, the Daily Herald has won top honors in the 2025 Northern Illinois News Association contest, and individual Daily Herald staff members were recognized with 47 first-, second- and third-place finishes in the annual competition.

The Daily Herald won the first-place award for General Excellence, in print and online, for the combined category of daily and nondaily newspapers. The print newspaper also won the top prize for overall design in the combined category.

The awards were announced at a ceremony Thursday in the Sky Room of Northern Illinois University’s Holmes Student Center. The event drew journalists from across the region to celebrate the year’s best reporting, writing and photography.

Community newsrooms also had a standout night. The Evanston RoundTable collected awards for its features and photography, while the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal was recognized for its work in business, social issues and historical reporting. Smaller nameplates such as the Chronicle Media publications, Rockton-Roscoe News and The Observer also earned honors.

The evening featured a keynote address by David J. Gunkel, chair of NIU’s Department of Communication and Distinguished Research Professor and the author of 18 books on artificial intelligence and the philosophy of technology. Gunkel explored the ethical and communicative implications of emerging AI systems.

In the awards presentations, individual Daily Herald staff members won 21 first-place awards in an array of categories, some of which involved only daily newspapers and others a combination of daily and nondaily outlets.

First-place winners were:

• Jake Griffin had two first-place finishes. He won for Best Watchdog Reporting, Combined, for a selection of stories from his occasional “Tax Watchdog” columns analyzing various issues of local and statewide taxation and government spending. He also won the Best Historical Feature category for daily newspapers for his feature “Local Wartime History” on suburban POW camps during World War II.

• Marni Pyke won first place honors for Best General Feature for a human-interest feature story headlined “A Big Smile, A Bigger Heart.”

• Pyke also headed a team of reporters and photographers who won first place for their reports on the Democratic National Convention Chicago.

• Charles Keeshan and Susan Sarkauskas won for their report “Sentenced to Life, He’s Now Free at 49.”

• Russell Lissau was cited individually in two categories. For combined daily and nondaily newspapers, he won for Best Sports Story for a story in his series on former professional athletes living in the suburbs. His story on a congressional candidate’s wife who had been helped in the past by white supremacists won for Best Government/Public Affairs Reporting for daily newspapers.

• Lissau teamed up with Christopher Placek for the Best Education Reporting category for daily newspapers for their report on a yearbook controversy at Glenbrook South High School.

• Jim Slusher won in two categories for combined daily and nondaily outlets — Best Columnist and Best Editorial.

• Barbara Vitello won in the daily category for Best Religion Story/Owen Phelps Award for her story headlined “A Place for All,” and for Best Localized News Story for “SCOTUS and Homelessness.”

• Steve Zalusky’s coverage of an apartment fire in Mount Prospect won for Best In-Depth News Story for in the combined competition.

• Mick Zawislak won in two daily newspaper categories — Best Personality Profile for his feature “I Have a Purpose,” and for Best Business/Financial/Consumer Story for “This Will Be A Boon For Us.”

• Photographer John Starks won in the daily category for Best Sports Photo with his photo of a high school track athlete’s celebration after qualifying for state.

• Rick West won in two categories for daily newspapers — Best Spot News Photo from a remembrance on Patriot Day, and Best Feature Photo for the shot of a woman’s reaction as a child hands her a rose.

Second-place citations went to:

• Katlyn Smith placed in two categories: Best Business/Financial/Consumer Story for “Time for a Transformation” and Best Technology/Medical Story, combined for “Coming Back to Life”

• Smith also was cited along with the Editorial Board and the Copy Desk in the Best Localized News Story category for their work after the first assassination attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump.

• Mick Zawislak, Best General Feature for dailies for “Lakeside Legacy.”

• Steve Zalusky, Best Spot News Story for “Never Seen Anything Like It.”

• Mike McGraw, Best Sports Story, combined: Noda’s Outlook in Oakland.

• Madhu Krishnamurthy in two daily categories: Best Personality Profile for “So Much To Be Done” and Best Education Reporting for “Students’ ‘Tremendous’ Recovery from COVID Era.”

• Marni Pyke, Best Columnist, combined, for her In Transit column.

• Christopher Placek in two daily categories: Best Historical Feature for “The Girls Didn’t Stop Screaming” and Best Government/Public Affairs Reporting for his coverage of the Bears and the suburbs.

• Photographer Brian Hill, Best Feature Photo for a picture of a timid child on the first day of school.

• Joe Lewnard, Best Sports Photo for a high school coach’s reaction to a big win.

• John Starks, Best Spot News Photo for a shot of firefighters silhouetted by flames while battling a fire.

Third-place finishes went to:

• Brian Hill, Best Sports Photo for a football player pictured while catching a punt

• John Starks, Best Feature Photo for a picture of reactions to an appearance by Santa Claus.

• Rick West, Best Spot News Story for “Car Lifted From River.”

• Dave Oberhelman, Best Personality Profile for “Cancer warrior.”

• Marni Pyke, Best Government/Public Affairs Reporting in the daily category for her coverage of various transportation issues.

• Steve Zalusky, Best Localized News Story for dailies for “Suburbanites Observe Overthrow of Assad.”

• Mick Zawislak, Best Historical Feature for dailies for “An Epic Heist.”

• Barbara Vitello and Susan Sarkauskas for Best General Feature, dailies for “People Who Need to be Held Are Being Held.”

• Alicia Fabbre, Best Education Reporting for dailies for “Intentional Learning.”

• Marni Pyke, Best Business/Financial/Consumer Story, combined, for “Cost Hikes or Too Early to Tell?”

• Photographer Kari Angel Luc, Best Spot News Photo, dailies for “We Felt Like Rock Stars.”