The Observer earned 9 awards at the Illinois Community College Journalism Association (ICCJA) spring conference.  The awards were for all community college journalism work for all of 2020.

The Observer staff earned 3rd place for General Excellence, an award that recognizes best overall newspaper. The Observer also earned 3rd place honors for best website.

Two Observer staff members received a total of seven individual awards.

Hadley Corbett, Observer editor-in-chief, earned 2nd place for her news story on the students’ ability to change their preferred pronouns on D2L. Corbett also earned third place for her news column on the college application process.

Corbett earned honorable mention in the Reporter of the Year category.

Staff photographer Lance Lagoni earned honors in all photography categories, including 2nd place for sports photography, 2nd place for multimedia story, 3rd place  for news photography, and 3rd place for feature photography.

During to travel restrictions, the conference was held virtually.