ICPA results

This past weekend, staff from the Encounter attended the annual Illinois College Press Association (ICPA) conference in downtown Chicago. The attendees this year included Editor-in-Chief Rodolfo Flores, Assistant and Sports editor Scarlett LaBuda as well as Head of Public Relations and Feature and Entertainment editor Kathleen Norton. 

The ICPA conference features all college press across the state of Illinois coming together for two days to share work, attend sessions run by professional journalists and an awards ceremony to cap off the weekend. Many colleges, no matter their size, across the state send staff to the conference to showcase their publication. This includes small schools such as the University of St. Francis (USF) and Lake Forest College, to large schools such as Illinois State University and Northern Illinois University. 

The staff had a fun time meeting and learning about publications, and were even featured in an Instagram reel posted on The Dominican Star’s Instagram page. They also talked with the staff of The Daily Eastern about their connection through USF’s current President and former Provost of Eastern Illinois University, Dr. Ryan C. Hendrickson. There were many sessions attended by the Encounter as well, including in topics such as sports writing, artificial intelligence, and social media among many others. 

The main event of the weekend was the awards ceremony. USF submitted pieces in both the open division, where all colleges in the state could submit, and the small school division, limited to colleges with an undergraduate enrollment of under 2,300 students. Of the many categories that the Encounter was nominated for, the publication took home 10 awards between nine different creators, the most by any Encounter staff in recent history. Of the 10 awards, two were first place winners, three entries won second place, two were awarded third place and three earned honorable mention nominations. The awards the Encounter won are as follows; 

First Place

Opinion Page- “Green Bean Casserole: The worst dish on the menu” written by Scarlett LaBuda

Headline Writing- “Cut, cut, cut: Was it management or malfeasance bringing down USF?” written by Mars Angulo

Second Place

Opinion Page- “USF needs a president who can pull us up from financial hardship” written by Alex Mielcarz

Video Storytelling- “Prison City Plates: The Big Chill” produced by Brant Singler

Front Page Layout- For the covers of the April, October and November editions designed by Karly Ceci

Third Place

Video Storytelling- “USF Presidential Inauguration" produced by Brant Singler and Bolu Apantaku

Sports Podcast- “USF women’s basketball looks to keep dancing in the 2025-26 season” produced by Brant Singler, hosted by Rodolfo Flores

Honorable Mentions

Sports Page Design- “Fall means football” designed by Karly Ceci, written by Rodolfo Flores

Feature Page Design- “Will Double S: USF’s up-and-coming artist” designed by Karly Ceci, written by Lissette Perez

Column Writing- “Trinity Talks: Community or correctional facility” written by Trinity Newell 

For LaBuda, whose entertainment piece about her hatred for Green Bean Casserole won best opinion page, the award meant something extra special. Being her third and final ICPA she would attend with the Encounter, LaBuda had not won any awards in her first two conferences. While she had high hopes this year for her entries, nothing could have prepared her for the jubilation she experienced when her name was called for first place in the opinion page category.  

“I heard my name for first place and I felt like I was going to cry. Not because I was sad, but because I had been working towards receiving an award for the last three years, and I finally got one,” LaBuda said. “On top of this being my first ICPA award, it was a first place finish which I think makes it even more special.”

Another highlight of the awards show was the success of Brant Singler. Having taken over the publication’s head producer position as a graduate student, Singler worked hard to improve the quality of the Encounter Podcast, along with also producing news segments with the TV Club. Singler’s work won three awards, the most of any member of the Encounter, while also producing the only piece to win in an open division category with the Encounter Podcast segment about the women’s basketball preview story. 

Overall, it was a great showing for the Encounter at the 2026 ICPA conference. They will look to continue their work over the next year and bring home more awards at the next ICPA conference.