Junior Dhanveer Gill took fifth place in the IHSA state journalism competition in the editorial writing category on Friday, April 21 in Normal, Illinois. His win marks the first time since 2017 that a Wildcat Chronicle reporter placed at the state competition.

Gill, however, was not present to receive his medal, as he had to leave the event right after his contest in order to make it home in time to attend West Chicago Community High School’s Prom later that evening.

Gill asked that the Wildcat Chronicle adviser, Leslie Fireman, avoid telling him the results over the weekend to build up the suspense. She complied with his request, then surprised Gill with a visit from Principal Dr. Will Dwyer, who presented Gill with his medal during journalism class on April 24.

The entire journalism class celebrated Gill’s win with cake.

“Dhanveer’s win is a culmination of all his hard work. He is very deserving of this honor, and has helped our newspaper move in a positive direction. I hope this is just the start of Dhanveer’s journalistic efforts,” Fireman said.

Gill, who placed first in editorial writing during April 1’s sectionals competition, is a first-year journalism student who worked his way up to Opinions Editor, a position he currently holds. Gill has twice been named Reporter of the Week, and he is a Best of SNO winner as well.

Most recently, Gill was part of the editorial team which was awarded a blue ribbon from the Northern Illinois Scholastic Press Association for their article “Excessive Social Media Use: Dangerous for Teenagers”.

“Dhanveer is a talented writer, and his keen sense of logic has helped him look at editorial writing in a strategic way. His articles are engaging and direct, both of which are important in opinion writing,” Fireman said.

Gill now looks for the results of the Illinois Journalism Education Association writing contests, which should be released this spring.