SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Foundation today announce the awarding of grants to 18 high school journalism efforts throughout the state. The awards are part of the Illinois High School Media Mini-Grants Program offered by the Illinois Press Foundation and financially sponsored this year by Illinois Farm Bureau.

More than $22,000 total in grants will be distributed to the schools in the fall to pay for laptops, cameras, podcasting stations and more. The Illinois Press Foundation Board of Directors’ Education Committee selected the grant recipients from a large field of applicants.

“While we had initially planned to award 15 grants, the committee was more than happy to be able to get a few more schools involved in this year’s program with the funding we had available” said Jeff Rogers, director of the Illinois Press Foundation. “The Foundation and its board are so proud of the program, and of the work being done by student journalists and their remarkable advisers throughout the state.”

Chris Magnuson, executive director of Illinois Farm Bureau’s News and Communication division, congratulated the 2021 grant recipients.

“The talent inside each of these programs is promising, and helping these programs develop and grow is rewarding,” Magnuson said.

This year’s grant recipients include:

• Bushnell Prairie City High School: $1,500 for a 13-inch Macbook Pro computer
• Carlyle High School: $1,350 for three Samsung 15.6-inch Chromebooks
• Elk Grove High School: $1,500 for laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, newsprint and podcast equipment
• Englewood STEM High School in Chicago: $1,500 for an iMac 24” desktop computer
• Evanston High School: $1,500 for laptops
• Jacksonville High School: $450 for website hosting fees
• Liberty High School: $1,473.87 for a Nikon D3500 camera and kit, Adobe Creative Suite software, and portable digital recorders
• Homewood Flossmoor High School: $1,200 for two Nikon D3500 cameras
• Metea Valley High School in Aurora: $749 for a Cannon
• Morgan Park High School in Chicago: $1.296 for a Nikon D7500 camera and kit
• Normal Community High School: $1,500 for a book scanner, microphones, camera monitor and photo-computer tether
• Prospect High School in Mount Prospect: $1,500 for two Nikon D3500 cameras and a 70-300mm lens
• Putnam County High School in Granville: $1,500 to pay for newsprint and Adobe Creative Cloud software licenses
• Red Bud High School: $800 for website hosting fees
• South Central High School in Farina: $1,500 for three Dell laptop computers
• Sparta High School: $415 for a COOLPIX B600 camera, carrying case and memory card
• Thornridge High School in Dolton: $1,500 for two Lenovo IdeaCentre desktop computers and one Microsoft Service Go 2 Touch Screen
• York High School in Elmhurst: $900 for a small podcasting station.

The 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 378,237 and a voting membership of 77,909. 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 as the charitable arm of the Illinois Press Association.

Its news service, Capitol News Illinois, has provided daily coverage of state government for Illinois’ newspapers since it was formed in 2019.