Wright Times Wins Three Awards at ICCJA Conference

The Wright Times won three awards at the ICCJA Conference on Nov. 13 for stories written in the spring 2025 semester. ICCJA is the Illinois Community Colleges Journalism Association and they host an annual competition where they award community college news publications from across the state with awards in various categories.

The Wright Times won first place in the News Story category for a profile on the cannabis studies program written by the current Editor in Chief Kyle Chmielowski. A story about the new athletic director Gabriel Billings written by former sports reporter Arielle Canchola won second place in the Sports Feature category. A letter about Press Freedom Day from Jenin Hattab, the former Editor in Chief for the 2024-2025 school year, won an honorable mention award in the Editorial category.

Hattab said, ”I didn’t even know I was considered for something like this, for me writing and journalism has come like a second nature, managing people, being editor in chief that’s its own challenge in itself but writing has been something that I’ve loved for so long.”

Hattab said she is grateful for the Wright Times faculty advisor Adam Webster and the staff she worked with.  Hattab said, “I look at the award and I think of all the tears, the blood, and the sweat that have gone into this.”

Jenin Hattab with her award at the Wright Times Newsroom. Photo Credit: Kyle Chmielowski.