The Northern Star newspaper claimed second place in the Illinois College Press Association’s general excellence category for the second year in a row.

The Daily Northwestern of Northwestern University took first, but ICPA did not select another newspaper for third place.

The Northern Star also took first and second place in the editorial category, with a front page editorial calling for NIU’s presidential candidates to step forward claiming the section’s top prize.

Editor in Chief Kelly Bauer and Managing Editor Jessi Haish took first and second place, respectively, in the feature story category.

Strip cartoonist Mike Dean took second place for his work on The Punchline is Corn. Video producer Alex Koss received third place in multimedia reporting. Bauer also received an honorable mention for front page design, and cartoonist Griffin Thorne received an honorable mention for best editorial cartoon.