NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Augustana College was named champion of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin’s (CCIW) fourth-annual service project announced Monday.

CCIW institutions’ Student Athlete Advisory Councils (SAAC) competed against one another in a penny wars competition from November 1, 2010 to February 1, 2011. Augustana collected $700 to win the competition, followed by North Park ($468), Illinois Wesleyan ($221.35), North Central ($110.13) and Carthage ($50.22) for a total of $1549.70.

Money earned in the competition will be donated to a local youth organization in each school’s community.

“This was another successful year of the CCIW service project,” CCIW assistant commissioner Mike Krizman said. “Our membership continues to put forth tremendous effort in keeping this project going for the last four years and we plan to continue it for a long time.”

This marks the second year in a row that Augustana has won the CCIW’s annual service project. Last year, the CCIW SAAC collected over 1,800 pounds of hygiene products that were donated to local charities. Augustana collected the most with 724 pounds.

The CCIW also collected winter clothing items as well as shoes in past donation drives. North Park won the winter clothing drive in 2009 while Carthage was the shoe drive champion in 2008.