North Cook News

Gabe Newman of Elk Grove Village, along with other staff members of the Daily Eastern News, received 15 national awards in Division II at the CMA Pinnacle Awards and ACP Pacemaker Awards during the MediaFest25 conference held in Washington, D.C., in October.

The newspaper earned three first place awards, four second place awards, two third place awards, one fourth place award, and five honorable mention recognitions.

The Associated College Press (ACP), which has over 570 member organizations nationwide, presents its Pacemaker Awards without division categories. This means The News competed against all entries on a national level. According to the ACP website, their awards are organized into groups such as Pacemaker, Individual, Best of Show and Clips & Clicks.

Photo Editor Patrick Schmitz won second place for sports feature photo of the year for his image capturing Eastern's softball team after winning the Ohio Valley Conference championship in May. Former Design Editor Rob Le Cates was awarded fourth place for broadcast story of the year for his long documentary. Former Photo Editor Sia DeyKoontz received an honorable mention for feature photo of the year for her photograph of students preparing for Miss Black EIU 2025.

The College Media Association (CMA), a nonprofit organization governed by a volunteer board since 1954, splits its Pinnacle Awards by enrollment category. In this year's competition there were 3,358 entries and 1,165 finalists across eight categories with winners chosen by professors and professionals.

In News & Opinion categories at CMA Pinnacle Awards, The News staff earned an honorable mention for media website of the year. Feature Reporter Aidan Cusack won first place for general newsletter. Former Feature Reporter Alexis Moore-Jones secured second place with her breaking news photo from a vigil outside Lawson Hall. Former Sports Reporter Drew Farrell took third place for his column addressing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s comments about autism. Former Reporter Cam'ron Hardy received an honorable mention for multimedia coverage on Spirit Rock.

For Advertising & General categories at CMA Pinnacle Awards, former Design Editor Rob Le Cates won second place with his portrait of former Eastern Illinois University Provost Ryan Hendrickson.

In Creative categories at CMA Pinnacle Awards, Rob Le Cates also won second place for an infographic about undergraduate graduation statistics between fiscal years 2013 and 2023 and received an honorable mention for his documentary examining land use conflicts between agriculture and energy collection.

Within Sports & Features at CMA Pinnacle Awards: former Photo Editor Sia DeyKoontz took first prize with her sports photo showing Eastern's baseball team celebrating a grand slam; Sports Editor Gabe Newman and Design Editor Bryce Parker shared first prize for their multimedia sports story covering the OVC baseball championship; Sia DeyKoontz also earned third prize with her feature photo package from EIU's Holi Festival of Colors; Sports Editor Gabe Newman received an honorable mention for his audio/video sports feature on Charleston High School's boys' basketball team.

This information was originally published by the Daily Eastern News Editorial Board on October 22, 2025.

Information from this story was sourced from MeritPages.com