A record number of 868 students from 44 high schools attended this year’s fall conference. Keynote speaker Brandee Britt, Director of Social Media and Digital Strategy at University of Iowa Athletics, opened the conference sharing her experiences covering the Hawkeye women’s basketball team’s dramatic rise from obscurity to prominence over the past several years. She discussed key players she’s helped to highlight, ending with celebrity and phenomenon Caitlin Clark. Britt graduated from the UI’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2015.

Student participants attended 40 breakouts during three different sessions, learning skills and information they can bring back to their schools to help support their high school journalism work. The conference ended with the awards ceremony and announcements of the top awards given to 10 schools:

News Team of the Year Winners:

Iowa City High School – the Little Hawk

Iowa City West High School – West Side Story

Pleasant Valley High School – The Spartan Shield

Waterloo West High School – Wahawk Insider

West Branch High School – The Bear

Yearbook of the Year Winners:

Mount Vernon High School – The Centaur

Pella Community High School – The Duchess

Pleasant Valley High School – Valenian

Webster City High School – Torch

Indianola High School – The Horizon