The Elgin Observer won two best of show awards at the ACP Spring National College Media Conference held in La Jolla, San Diego, California from March 7-9, 2024. 

The Observer, ECC’s student-run news source, publishes stories online at elginobserver.com and sends a newsletter out to ECC students and faculty every other Thursday. 

The staff won first place in the Best of Show Digital Newsletter category for two year colleges at the ACP awards ceremony on Saturday, March 9. The win was followed by tenth place in the Best of Show Website category for two year colleges. 

The achievement comes after a Multiplatform Pacemaker Award from the ACP Fall National College Media Convention held in Atlanta, GA in October 2023. 

This year marks the second consecutive year that the Observer won first place Best of Show in the Digital Newsletter category. The staff last won this award at the ACP Spring National Media Convention in San Francisco, CA in March 2023. 

The conference was hosted by the Associated Collegiate Press in conjunction with the California College Media Association and the Journalism Association of Community Colleges.

It was held at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine and featured 150 sessions from experienced journalists and advisers. 

Keynote speakers included Emmy Award-winning journalist Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins, Washington Post sports columnist Jerry Brewer and Emmy Martin, editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s independent student-led newspaper. 

The Observer uploaded its first online articles in January 2010 and sent out its first newsletter in February 2021.

Click here to sign up for the Observer’s biweekly newsletter.