This year the Southern Illinois School Press Association (SISPA) Winter Conference was on Wednesday, February 22. It was at SIU-C School of Journalism and Advertising. 

SISPA is when students can go to informational sessions to know different areas of journalism. Students can also compete to show off skills and prepare for the IHSA Journalism contest in April. SISPA started when high school advisers got together with SIU-C instructors to form an organization to support high school journalism programs over 70 years ago. 

This year Okawville had many awards. They were for the following people: Macie Staley- first place News or Feature Photo, Jared Juenger and Briley Rhodes – first place Digital Homepage Design, Kylie Buehler – first place Yearbook Sports Copy, Max Snyder – second place Yearbook Feature Copy, Samantha Friess – third place Yearbook Feature, Jared Juenger – second place Sports Writing, Bennett Krohne – first place Yearbook Sports Writing, Sarah Cook – third place Copy Editing, and Kylie Buehler –  third place Editorial Writing.

Congratulations to our student journalists on a great day at SISPA!