The staff of the Mundelein High School yearbook, Obelisk, earned six awards in their division of the Illinois Journalism Education Association (IJEA) contest. The IJEA received more than 50 yearbooks from high schools from throughout Illinois.

“The staff spends about ten months each year working on the yearbook,” said Advisor Michelle Didzbalis. “They have to wait for a final printed product before they see the fruits of their labor so it’s nice all their hard work can be rewarded with awards from a well-known journalism contest,” she said.

This year, the 2018 book with the theme “Stay Connected” earned second place in the copywriting category. “Overall, this category told in-depth stories that captured the personality of their schools,” the judges wrote.

The staff members also took third place in both the graphics category and in sports coverage. “Some very good stories elevated this section. Features on bottoms of pages are nice as well,” the judges wrote about sports coverage. For the graphics category, the judges stated “Winners used graphics consistently without overdoing it and it created simple but elegant books. Bold and fun use of graphics was also observed.”

The staff also received honorable mention in the theme development category, the photography category and the coverage of the year category.

Last year’s staff was led by editors-in-chief Kyle Ehemann and Sophia Fiore, both 2018 graduates.