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Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Press Foundation award grants to 26 school journalism programs

 

June 25, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Rogers, Illinois Press Foundation executive director
(217) 241-3365
jrogers@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Foundation today announce the awarding of grants to 26 high school journalism efforts throughout the state. The awards are part of the Illinois High School Journalism Grants Program offered by the Illinois Press Foundation and financially sponsored for a fourth consecutive year by Illinois Farm Bureau.

More than $35,000 total in grants will be distributed to the schools in the fall to pay for laptops, cameras, broadcasting equipment, newspaper printing costs, website hosting fees and more. The Illinois Press Foundation Board of Directors’ Education Committee approved the grant recipients.

“We’re grateful to continue to have Illinois Farm Bureau as a financial partner of this valuable program again this year,” said Jeff Rogers, executive director of the Illinois Press Foundation. “The Illinois Farm Bureau’s commitment, along with an increased financial commitment this year from the Illinois Press Foundation, has allowed us to award more grants this year than any year of our partnership. Especially today, journalism and the sharing of facts and information is more important than ever. Today’s students have so many platforms available to them, and we’re proud the grant helps support schools in every part of the state to practice journalism.”

This is the fifth year Illinois Farm Bureau has supported scholastic journalists through this grant program.

“Meaningful development through education and programming is central to Illinois Farm Bureau, and it’s incredibly rewarding to help these students grow their journalism skills at the high school level,” said Matt Wettersten, executive director of marketing and communications at Illinois Farm Bureau, as he congratulated the 2025 grant recipients. “We are awarding more applicants this year than we have in any year of our affiliation with the program. That tells us two things. The need for financial assistance is real. But also, the interest in our grant program, and in journalism at the high school level, is growing. We’re proud to help in that way.”

 

All schools will receive their grant checks during on-site visits in August and September. Of the 26 schools receiving grants, seven are doing so for the first time during the IPF-IFB partnership.

This year’s grant recipients include:

  • Altamont Community High School: $1,500 for a camera bundle group and a telephoto style lens.
  • Amundsen High School, Chicago: $1,500 for the cost of printing physical copies of the student newspaper.
  • Alton High School: $1,440 for four tablets and protective cases with keyboards.
  • Carl Schurz High School, Chicago: $1,500 for a Canon EOS R8 4K camera.
  • Carlyle High School: $1,500 for three cameras, lenses and protection plans.
  • Champaign Central High School: $500 for a year’s subscription to the SnoSites website/online publishing system.
  • Edwardsville High School: $1,500 for a professional podcasting desk.
  • Elgin High School: $1,500 for a memory card and batteries, memory card holder and USB holders, charger for lavalier mics, rolling tripod, charging block, large storage cabinet, handheld mics, a camera rig and cage, and a handheld recording in progress sign.
  • Freeport High School: $1,500 for SnoSites training and Journalism Education Association Student Conference fees.
  • Grayslake North High School: $1,500 for a digital camera and microphones.
  • Herrin High School: $1,500 for up to four 9th generation iPads, an external hard drive, and a podcast mic.
  • Herscher High School: $1,500 for digital cameras.
  • Madison School, South Holland: $1,500 for a lithium-ion battery pack, tripod, 2-person wireless microphone system and recorder kit, a video camera tablet teleprompter, impact background system kit, and ultracompact wireless microphone system.
  • Metea Valley High School, Aurora: $1,500 for new DSLR cameras, podcast microphones, lighting kits, and video production tools.
  • Normal Community High School: $1,500 for a telephoto lens.
  • Normal Community West High School: $1,500 for AP Stylebooks (hard copies and digital subscriptions), and updates to the program’s technology and storage needs.
  • Ogden International High School, Chicago: $1,440 for a Weebly account, domain name via Bluehost, and a camera/lens kit.
  • Okawville Junior/Senior High School: $1,100 for a web hosting subscription, Student News Sources app, portable whiteboard, tripod/monopod upgrade, and Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.
  • Oswego East High School: $1,500 for a laptop and camcorder.
  • Oswego High School: $1,500 for two video cameras and a set of wireless lavalier microphones.
  • Red Bud High School: $500 for a 1-year subscription to the SnoSites website/online publishing system.
  • Richards Career Academy, Chicago: $1,500 for a camera kit, lenses, camera bag, SD cards, batteries and camera strap.
  • Thornridge High School, Dolton: $1,500 for an Apple MacBook and four microphones.
  • Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, Chicago: $1,500 to fund the printing of quarterly print editions, and entry fees and travel for journalism competitions.
  • West Chicago High School: $675 for two backdrop support systems; portable softbox and LED panel lights; and a reflector, clamps and sandbags.
  • Wheeling High School: $1,500 for a video instant replayer.

 

Illinois Farm Bureau is a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation, a national organization of farmers and ranchers. Founded in 1916, IFB is a non-profit, membership organization directed by farmers who join through their county Farm Bureau. IFB has a total membership of more than 364,452 and a farmer membership of 75,959. IFB represents three out of four Illinois farmers.

The Illinois Press Foundation is dedicated to promoting and protecting free expression through educational activities that foster the practice and respect of First Amendment principles and values, to enhance the quality of services provided by newspapers to their communities, and to support reading and literacy efforts.

The IPF was established in 1982. Its news service, Capitol News Illinois, has provided daily coverage of state government for Illinois’ newspapers and broadcast outlets since it was formed in 2019. The Foundation also sponsors an annual summer journalism workshop for high school students at Eastern Illinois University, and scholarships for students in the UIS Public Affairs Reporting program. It also has collaborative reporting programs through Capitol News Illinois with the Medill Illinois News Bureau at Northwestern University and The Saluki Local Reporting Lab at Southern Illinois University.

Earn Your Press Pass: A free, turnkey way to train community members to be journalists at your newspaper

 

SPRINGFIELD – Today’s publishers have a tough time hiring experienced journalists for their newsrooms — particularly those in smaller markets. The result: Rookie employees with no formal training or professional experience struggling to learn on the job with minimal guidance. Now there’s free help available to ease that learning curve.

The Illinois Press Foundation has contracted with Kansas Publishing Ventures (KPV) to provide Illinois newspapers with access to a free, self-paced online training course entitled “Earn Your Press Pass.” The course is designed is to help prospective and rookie reporters who have solid reading and writing skills by teaching them solid journalistic skills.

“The labor shortage is real, and finding former journalists or recent journalism school graduates to move to smaller communities is nearly impossible,” KPV majority owner Joey Young said. “The purpose of the course is to give the basics to a solid candidate who just needs a little bit of training to make a good reporter.”

Illinois Press Foundation Executive Director Jeff Rogers said the program is a good fit for today’s newspaper environment.

“Our members are finding it tougher than ever to hire experienced journalists,” Rogers said. “Publishers and editors are looking for efficient online training aimed at teaching the basics to newcomers and honing the skills of those already on staff. The ‘Earn Your Press Pass’ program offers high-quality online content presented in user-friendly, self-paced segments.

“I think there also are opportunities for a local newspaper to share the course with readers and with scholastic journalists in their area to enhance news literacy.”

Lindsey Young, co-owner of KPV and a practicing journalist, teaches the course. A former high school journalism and public speaking teacher, she has been immersed in community newspapering since Joey and Lindsey purchased their first community newspaper, The Clarion, in 2014.

“I wanted to create something that feels more like a conversation with a well-informed friend than a traditional class,” Lindsey said. “There aren’t any homework assignments or quizzes. Instead, the ‘test’ for Earn Your Press Pass users will be becoming a part of their community newspaper and writing about local issues.”

As someone who has both a teaching background and practical real-world newspaper experience, Lindsey is able to teach the basics to a new or potential hire so an overworked editor can focus on other tasks.

“We needed an on-demand solution,” Joey said. “So we came up with what we would want a new hire to know, and Lindsey started working on the curriculum.”

Lindsey teaches simple interviewing steps to make new reporters more successful. Additionally, the course outlines basics like newspaper jargon, editing and basic photography.

“My hope is that people who go through the course will come out the other side with all the fundamentals and a list of questions for their editor or publisher so they can have meaningful, well-informed discussions about expectations and the nuances of their own community,” Lindsey said.

Joey said newspapers are increasingly relying on new hires who "are naturally curious and have decent writing ability,” but have no training or journalism experience. The solution, he said, is to “train them up."

"We need bodies who can go to these things, cover it, and feel competent. That’s what Lindsey set out to do, …to help people feel a little more confident.”

“We just want people to use it,” Joey said. "I really believe this is something to bridge the gap for papers that struggle to recruit."

The training syllabus is now available to all members of the Illinois Press Association. To sign your newspaper up to participate in Earn Your Press Pass, contact Rogers at jrogers@capitolnewsillinois.com.

The Youngs will be giving a presentation at 10 a.m. June 8 during convention about the online course and how newspapers can incorporate it into their recruiting processes.