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Plainfield North High School senior Dylan Budd has been named the 2024 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) journalism sports writing champion. Budd secured first place in the Sports Writing category at the IHSA state journalism competition, which took place on April 26, 2024, at Heartland Community College. He also participated in Review Writing.
“Dylan has worked tirelessly over the last three years honing his skills to be able to be a journalism state champion,” said PNHS journalism adviser Lara Hannemann. She added, “It makes it even sweeter that he won for sports writing which is his passion.”
Reflecting on his achievement, Budd stated, “Coming into state, I had never even placed, so I wanted to bring something home in my last year. I figured my piece would place, but not win; I’m thankful they considered mine the best.”
A total of 20 student journalists from Plainfield North, Plainfield East, Plainfield South high schools and Plainfield High School – Central Campus took part in the state events. Among them were four students who received Top 6 honors:
- Dylan Budd from Plainfield North High School achieved first place in Sports Writing.
- Frida Mora Garcia from Plainfield East High School earned fourth place in Editorial Cartooning.
- Zaara Syeda from Plainfield East High School secured fifth place in Yearbook Copy Writing.
- Emma Cowden from Plainfield High School-Central Campus attained sixth place in Feature Writing.
The District 202 participants included several other students competing across various categories such as TV News, Infographics, and Newspaper Design.
