EIU Media Relations

Daily Eastern News earns 28 national awards, nearly doubling last year’s total

Eastern Illinois University celebrates a legacy of professional preparation and excellence in student journalism

Additionally, the Daily Eastern News’ website also was honored in ACP’s best of show competition.

These awards underscore the opportunities EIU students have to develop their skills through direct experience in student media while producing work for real audiences.

The accomplishments reflect a longstanding tradition of journalism education at Eastern Illinois University, where students learn by doing — reporting on their communities, developing multimedia projects, producing broadcasts and taking on editorial responsibilities while still in college.

EIU’s School of Communication, Journalism and Theatre provides students with opportunities to develop professional skills across journalism, broadcasting, communication and the performing arts. Through experiences with The Daily Eastern News, WEIU-TV and WEIU-FM, students gain practical experience in reporting, writing, editing, photography, design, multimedia production and broadcast journalism.

The Daily Eastern News has a long history of national and state recognition, including being named College Media Association’s Best College Media Group of the Year in consecutive years. Its digital publication also has earned recognition from Associated Collegiate Press, including an Online Pacemaker finalist designation.

The university’s journalism program awarded its first bachelor’s degrees in in 1975. Since then, EIU’s journalism graduates have gone on to careers in newspaper and magazine reporting, editing, television and radio broadcasting, public relations, communications and other professional fields.

Among EIU’s journalism alumni are Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune writer Ted Gregory, former ABC News and FOX News correspondent and anchor Todd Connor, former CNN sports anchors Larry Smith and Ray D’Alessio, and Karen Meyer, a former feature reporter for ABC 7 Chicago. More recently, EIU alumnus Cam’ron Hardy, who graduated in 2025 after spending more than three years working at The Daily Eastern News, became a contributing reporter on a Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune project.

Hardy’s experience illustrates the connection between EIU’s student media opportunities and professional achievement. During his time at Eastern, he published more than 200 stories and developed experience in reporting, photography, podcasting and video production before moving into professional journalism. EIU’s Olivia Bennett and Matt Williamson also have earned accolades stemming from their EIU Journalism educations, with Bennett earning a distinguished Walter Cronkite Scholarship earlier this year.

That connection between classroom instruction, practical experience and professional opportunity remains central to EIU’s approach to preparing students for careers in an evolving media landscape.

For current students, the latest national awards offer recognition of the work they are producing today. For prospective students, they also demonstrate the opportunities available to learn, contribute and build a professional journalism portfolio before graduation, priming them for success in the workplace in media markets across the nation and throughout the world.

EIU prepares students to accomplish their life goals through a combination of quality academics, personal relationships, and both on-campus and online learning opportunities. For more information about Eastern Illinois University, including its broad array of academic and career readiness programs, community-based services and opportunities, visit eiu.edu or call EIU’s Public Information Office at (217) 581-7400.