Chicago Journal winners
10/12/2009 9:47 AM
Congratulations to Chicago Journal and sister paper Skyline's writers, designers and photographers.
Several scored awards last week at the Illinios Press Association's annual convention.
Chicago Journal designer Mark Tatara won first place for newspaper design among papers with similar circulation levels as the Journal.
Contributing reporter Nic Halverson's feature, "Young Repubs get stood up," which ran in the Journal last November, won 2nd Place for feature writing.
Bethany Vogelsberg, designer for Skyline newspaper, won 3rd Place in the single page design category, while Josh Hawkins took 2nd Place for general news photograph and honorable mention for one of his photo series in Skyline.
Here's Halverson's award-winning piece, reposted:
Young Republicans stood up
Election night fizzles under the weight of history, sour grapes
By NIC HALVERSON
Contributing Reporter
The
Hilton Hotel was scene to a lavish celebration on election night, of
chandelier swinging proportions. The air crackled with anticipation as
election returns came in. Directly across the street, a kinetic hive of
people, some climbing trees for a better view, gathered in Grant Park.
For
those who strode through the revolving doors of one of the South Loop’s
historic hotels, there was an exalted feeling, like walking into a prom
already crowned king or queen.
Yet off in a veritable broom
closet—pushed to the side and relegated to a dim annex, just slight of
being put in a corner, the Young Republicans and "DeMcCrats for McCain"
held court, trying their best to plug their ears and drown out the
Obamamania that literally surrounded them.
At the sign-in table,
attendees were greeted by a life-size cardboard cutout of John McCain,
whose look of grumpy frustration eloquently fit the mood. A giant
inflatable elephant holding a "God Bless America" sign welcomed the
conservative crowd.
The Who's chorus of "Teenage Wasteland" blared
over a sound system. Inside, a sparse crowd milled around drinking
$8.50 bottles of beer. A tan sorority girl with Greek letters tattooed
on her foot, fielded advances from the young men.
"She watches FOX News—she knows the score," flirted one cleanly shaved gentleman with a crew cut.
Watching
the returns come in was Angela Moroni, who was clad in pants made of
newspaper fabric, fierce black heels and lightly tinted Palin-esque
sunglasses studded with rhinestones.
Gesticulating with a half-empty
glass of red wine, she exclaimed, "Picking that chick was the best
thing McCain did! I love Sarah Failin'!" As the night wore on and the
young Republican crowd got drunker, the slip continued, as more than a
few slurry Sarah "failins'" could be heard in the room.
Commenting
on her fear of an Obama victory, Moroni pointed to the air, "You’ll
see. Energy prices are going to skyrocket. I don't care, though. I'm
still going to buy my $18 mascara."
States attorney candidate and
runner-up Tony Peraica milled around with an entourage of men with Blue
Tooth ear bugs and nametags that read "Mad Dog."
Peraica's
concession speech was repeatedly drowned out by the throngs of Obama
supporters that had gathered in the hotel lobby, which was directly
beneath and just over the balcony from the Young Republican’s event. In
fact, much of the evening was drowned-out by these Obama supporters.
Cheers of jubilation would regularly waft up, sending many Young
Republicans scrambling to the balcony's railing to see what all the
excitement was about. Down below, bellhops, security guards, the old
and young, the black and white, packed closely together around
television screens and fireplaces.
Upstairs, the entirely African-American bar tending staff smiled enthusiastically as they kept the drinks coming.
One
bartender, when asked what she thought about catering a Republican
event, said, "I thought most Republicans were old, I had no idea there
were young ones."
She then whispered, "I voted for Barack."
As hope fizzled for the young Republicans, people became bored and disinterested. They laid down on the carpet and sulked.
"It's
disappointing," said Alex Kramarczuk. An obvious multi-tasker,
Kramarczuk even opened up his backpack and started doing his economics
homework.
As McCain geared up to give his concession speech, Kyle
Maichle, a researcher and writer for the Sam Adams Alliance, said he
thought the Democratic victory would only strengthen the Republican
base to storm the ramparts once again.
"This is a rally call for the young GOP generation," he said. "You'll see, our loss tonight is tomorrow’s revolution."
We are no longer accepting new comments on ChicagoJournal.com
By Casa Sandoval
Posted: 05/10/2013 12:41 PM
Congratulations to the winners out there. You deserve it all. I hope you continue to support Chicago Journal. - Casa Sandoval
By mike
Posted: 10/12/2009 1:30 PM
Obviously, the reporter who wrote this piece of fiction was not physically there for the event (Peraica speech). He was not drowned out by Obama supporters who were in fact gathered outside (across the street) and Peraica actually congratulated both Alvarez and Obama on their victories. Reporters are entitled to their own opinions but not their own FACTS!