The Sentinel
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The American Scholastic Press Association awarded The Sentinel its 11^th consecutive first place award for our division in its national newspaper competition for 2022.

The Sentinel also received the Most Outstanding Private School Newspaper Award for 2022.  (This award was won in 2019 as well.) 

Entering its 58th year of publication, the Sentinel seeks to present the student body with current and thoughtful articles regarding school, local, and world events. The Sentinel is a student-run newspaper that combines the talents of its staff to produce editions that meet the highest standards of scholastic print media.  The Sentinel’s staff members are enrolled in the Journalism II course.  Students prepare for participation on the newspaper by enrolling in Journalism 1.

During the 2020-2021 school year, the Sentinel earned national, state and local awards for excellence, including First Place with Special Merit from the American Scholastic Press Association. This was the ninth consecutive year that the Sentinel won a first place rating in the APSA contest.

A number of RedHawk journalists also won awards at the local and state level for articles they wrote throughout the 2020-2021 school year.

The Sentinel has also earned a first-class rating with three marks of distinction from the National Scholastic Press Association and a superior and excellent achievement awards from the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago for overall newspaper and overall layout.

In the 2021 IHSA state journalism competition series, 7 RedHawk journalists advanced to state, including double sectional champion PJ Cunningham (headline writing and caption writing), Grace Molenhouse (champion-advertising, third place-editorial cartooning), Julia Reedy (second place-editorial writing), Matthew Warakomski (second place-review writing), Emma Fishback (second place-copy writing), Billy McNicholas (third place-sports writing) and Delaney Powers (third place-copy editing).

PJ Cunningham became the first RedHawk journalist to win state (caption writing) and the second RedHawk to take a second state medal (third place-headline writing).  Matthew Warakomski placed fourth in state in review writing. 

Since 2011, a total of 33 RedHawk journalists have advanced to the IHSA journalism state final competition, some in two categories.  A total of 10 RedHawks have medaled at state since 2011.

A number of RedHawk journalists have also won or placed in competitions hosted throughout the school year by the IJEA, SPAC and the Illinois Women’s Press Association.

Emma Brown ’19 was named to the Illinois Journalism Education Association’s 2019 All-State Jouranlism Team, an honor achieved by Gianna Miritello ’18 in 2018.  Solomon Davis ‘16  named the 2016 Chicago High School Journalist of the Year by the McCormick Foundation and the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago.  Davis was also named to the Illinois Journalism Education Association 2016 All-State Journalism Team.

The Sentinel is advised by Mr. John J. Gonczy, who is a certified journalism educator through the Journalism Education Association (JEA).  Gonczy is president of the IJEA, past president and current secretary of the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago.   In 2019, Gonczy was inducted into the IJEA Hall of Fame, the first Catholic high school inductee in the history of IJEA.   He is also a recipient of the IHSA Distinguished Service Award for his work in bringing the sectional and state journalism competition to the state of Illinois and his continued contributions to scholastic media programs.  In 2005, Gonczy received the JEA’s “Rising Star Award” for excellence in advising, the only Catholic high school teacher in the nation to win the honor that year.  Gonczy is also a 2010 Golden Apple award finalist.