Granite City High School senior Brayden Cook was recognized on April 27 by St. Louis Public Radio with three Honorable Mention awards in the 2026 Teen Photojournalist Prize.
The recognition highlights the achievements of local students in photojournalism and brings attention to student talent in documenting community events and stories through photography.
Cook earned Honorable Mention in three categories: Feature, Sports Feature, and Animals & Wildlife. His feature photograph captured Granite City firefighters walking through a burning wood pile during a promotional video shoot on July 31, 2025, in Granite City. In the Sports Feature category, his image showed Saint Louis University men’s soccer forward Theo Franca celebrating with a backflip after scoring the game-winning goal at Hermann Stadium on September 7, 2025. For Animals & Wildlife, Cook photographed a horse being hydrated by its trainer after competing at Churchill Downs on November 15, 2025. The winning photos can be viewed here.
Cook is currently a co-op student for the Granite City School District and owns BC Photography, which specializes in drone imaging and professional photography services. The STLPR Teen Photojournalist Prize aims to provide professional recognition and training to high school students who excel at capturing their world through photography.
Granite City Community Unit School District 9 represents Madison County and includes several schools such as Coolidge Junior High School, Frohardt Elementary School, Granite City High School, Grigsby Intermediate School, Maryville Elementary School, Mitchell Elementary School, Prather Elementary School, and Wilson Elementary School according to Illinois Report Card. The district had an enrollment of 5,990 students during the 2019-2020 school year and serves grades pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade according to Illinois Report Card.
The district employs approximately 320 teachers earning an average salary of $67,898 before pension contributions; about three-quarters are women while one-quarter are men. No teachers reported more than ten absences during the school year according to Illinois Report Card. Demographically, the district is comprised of about two-thirds White students (65.3 percent), with Black (15.9 percent), Hispanic (11.7 percent), and Asian (0.6 percent) populations making up most of the remainder according to Illinois Report Card.
Financially for the year 2020, spending per student was $17,739 for a total expenditure of $106 million according to Illinois Report Card. Chronic truancy remains an issue; there were reportedly 755 chronically truant students enrolled—12.6 percent compared with a statewide average of just under ten percent according to Illinois Report Card.
