PEORIA — The Journal Star’s two-month quest to honor eight great content creators has reached the finish line.
There is something for everyone among the winners, from local food reviews, to cosmetics, shopping, girl talk, parenting advice, a personal IVF journey, tracking local weather, majestic drone footage of central Illinois and an inside view of a small-town diner.
The final eight combined have 822,000 followers on TikTok and 207,000 followers on Instagram. They hold 10,300 YouTube subscribers and have a Facebook presence of 770,000 followers.
The 2026 Journal Star Content Creators contest journey to a final eight was a process that included more than 400 nominations, hundreds of comments from the public, a round of readership voting on an online ballot of 25 finalists, and a Journal Star panel tasked with choosing the final eight.
Peoria Heights native Seth Boyer won the readership vote, securing an automatic place among the final eight.His restaurant review content is extremely popular, with videos including his trademark introduction, “PeORRRia!”
The Journal Star will host Boyer and his fellow members of the final eight in a celebration at a local establishment later this week.
“This has been so much fun,” said Boyer, who drew the largest share of thousands of votes cast by readers in the online ballot. “There are some great creators in our area, and to be recognized this way is an honor, and it’s exciting to see that connection.”
Let’s meet the Great Eight:
Seth Boyer: TikTok, imsethboyer. @ImsethboyeruTube. Instagram, imsethboyer.Chris LeCrone: Facebook, Chris LeCrone. Instagram, @chrislecronemedia. Website, chrislecrone.com. TikTok, @chrislecronemedia.Fairview Cafe (Cassandra Babcock): TikTok, Cassbabz of Fairview Cafe (@Cassbabz).Jamiah Dunlop: TikTok, @msprittyjd. Instagram, @msprittyjd. Facebook, Pritty JD. Twitch, @msprittyjd.Carlos Wyant: Facebook (Illinois Storm Community Group), Facebook (Illinois Weather Community). Instagram, illinois_storm_community.Ava Mikell: TikTok, @ava_mikell. Instagram, @ava_mikell. YouTube, @AvaMikell.Marlee Wren: TikTok, @Maarjaay0. Instagram, @maarjaay. Facebook, @maarmaar.Kayla Boyd: Instagram, kaylaboyd__ (That’s a double underscore)
Boyer was the leader in nominations and votes received. Mikell had the second-most nominations, while Wyant and Boyd were among the top six vote-getters.
In the coming days, the Journal Star will publish stories and pictures about each of the eight finalists. Watch for those on pjstar.com.
“Content creation is a huge part of society these days,” said Romando Dixson, executive editor of the Journal Star. “It has been a pleasure to highlight the people who entertain, inform and share their lives with the community. It’s a segment of the community that isn’t always recognized by traditional media. We look forward to spotlighting more content creators in the future.”
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: And the winners are: Meet the final eight content creators in the Journal Star contest
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star | USA TODAY Network
