Five sectional champions helped lead Community’s journalism team to a record-setting performance at the IHSA Sectional Journalism Competition April 12. 

Community finished third in the sectional team race with 55 points—behind Washington (66) and Oswego East (58), and qualified 14 entries for Friday’s state competition at Heartland Community College—the strongest showing in school history.

Beatrix Alvarex won Newspaper Design, Brady Phelps claimed Radio News, Andrew Naour won the News Writing title, junior Anna Chang took Copy Editing and the TV News Team of Nico Salvati, Pranav Bhookya and Audra Wolf captured first place to make Wolf a two-time sectional champion in the event.

“I am incredibly proud of the Inkspotters—it is awesome to see their dedication to the craft of journalism pay off,” Mr. Brad Bovenkerk, Inkspot adviser, said. “I know they do amazing work each and every day, but I love for them to get the public recognition and accolades they are so deserving of.”

Seniors Naour and Alvarez each qualified in two events with Naour adding a second-place finish in Headline Writing, and Alvarez placing third in Yearbook Copywriting. 

Alvarez’s versatility came after Bovenkerk moved her into new events following her state-qualifying finish in Copy Editing last year.

“After Bea qualified for state last year, I threw her a curveball by entering her in different events this year,” Bovenkerk said. “She not only responded to the challenge but excelled, taking home a title.”

The 14 state entries across 10 events shatter previous program records. Last year’s sectional team—which produced state champion Bryce Hickman (’25) in Review Writing—qualified seven entries. This year’s group doubled that total.

The program sends first-time state qualifiers in nine of its 10 entries as Phelps, Wolf and Alvarez are the only repeat qualifiers.

“Phelps showed how he honed his craft this year by taking home a title,” Bovenkerk said, an improvement over his 4th place finish in the Radio News event in 2025.

Making their first state appearances are  junior Yusuf Abbed, who placed third in Review Writing; junior Rex Rowley, third in Yearbook Caption Writing; and seniors Vidushi Shukla and Arwen Georgas, who finished second in Yearbook Theme Development.

At the sectional, the squad medaled in 12 of the 13 events it entered—with junior Olivia Lively taking sixth in Photo Storytelling. 

Community’s third-place finish comes despite competing in only 13 of 18 possible categories. 

“The Saturday sectional competition is a challenge,” Bovenkerk said. “Traditionally, we struggle with our kids all being able to compete because of spring sports schedules. I think we would have had a good shot at a sectional title had we had competitors in every event.”