Three iSchool students were on the winning team at PygHack 2018, a 24-hour hackathon that brings together coders, designers, engineers, and dreamers to work together to create something that can benefit the community or an organization in Champaign-Urbana. This year's event was held on September 29-30 at the University of Illinois Research Park. PygHack projects were judged on community benefit, collaboration, design, functioning prototype, and innovation. 

Assistant Professor Masooda Bashir has been named the iSchool's Centennial Scholar for 2018-2019. Endowed by alumni and friends of the School, the Centennial Scholar award recognizes outstanding accomplishments and/or professional promise in the field of library and information science.

Lecturer Elizabeth Wickes (MS '16) has received a NumFOCUS Contributor Award for her contributions to Project Jupyter, a nonprofit, open-source project that supports interactive data science and scientific computing across all programming languages.

Eight iSchool alumni were selected to participate in the Minnesota Institute for Early Career Librarians from Traditionally Underrepresented Groups, which was held from July 16-20 in Minneapolis. The institute is a week-long program housed at and sponsored by the University of Minnesota Libraries, focusing on the development of library leaders from diverse backgrounds.

Nineteen iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Spring 2018. The rankings are released every semester, and results are based on the Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms maintained by Measurement and Evaluation in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

Alison C. Rollins (MS '17) has been selected to receive a 2018 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award, which is given annually to six women writers who demonstrate excellence and promise in the early stages of their careers.

The iSchool Alumni Association (ISAA) honored its 2018 award recipients at the ISAA Annual Meeting and reception, which was held on June 24 during the annual meeting of the American Library Association in New Orleans.

Lynne M. Thomas (MS '99), head of The Rare Book & Manuscript Library and an iSchool adjunct professor, has won two Hugo Awards—science fiction's most prestigious award. Thomas, now a seven-time Hugo Award winner, joined the University Library in July 2017.

iSchool alumna Sarah T. Roberts (PhD '14) will receive a 2018 Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for her groundbreaking content moderation research. Awarded every year since 1992, EFF's Pioneer Awards recognize the leaders who are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier.

Two iSchool master's students have been selected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Committee on Diversity and Leadership to participate in the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW) as ARL Diversity Scholars.