LMC Experience Staff Honored at Norcal Conference with 19 Awards

November 22, 2010

Program Contact: Cindy McGrath, Journalism Chair, 925-439-2181 x3357

PITTSBURG: The Los Medanos College (LMC) Experience was one of just six community college newspapers in Northern California to win the prestigious General Excellence Award in the Northern Regional Mail-in Contest of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) Nov. 6 at San Jose State University. Members of the Experience staff also won 16 other mail-in awards in a variety of contests, and two on-the-spot awards.

The LMC Experience staff consists of students who are studying journalism through the hands-on experience of developing and publishing a newspaper.

“The staff is filled with dedicated and creative students, and I am proud of the work they do every week,” said Faculty Adviser Cindy McGrath. “Awards are a nice acknowledgment of their efforts, but the real prize is the experience that will prepare them for jobs as journalists when they leave LMC.”

Three LMC students took home first place honors for their creative efforts:

• New Media Editor Corey Hunt won first place in the Column Writing category for a series of columns on social and political issues.
• Former staff writer Dawn A. Green won first place in Opinion Writing for a personal column on the challenge of being a single mother of three and finding herself pregnant again.
• Former Editor in Chief and current Sports Editor Angelica Gonzalez won first place in Front Page Layout for a series of pages she designed last academic year.

Other mail-in winners include:

• Walter M. Williams won an unranked Meritorious Award in Enterprise Writing for a series of stories on the mysterious death of a young soldier.

• Dennis Biles won awards for both his stories entered into the Sport Game Story category, a second place and an honorable mention.

• Will Rogers won second place in Inside Page Layout/Broadsheet for a Feature Page design with a Halloween theme.

• Co-writer Corey Hunt and Anthony Segovia won third place in News Feature Story for their story on a trip to Mexico to investigate the drug trade.

• Karl Compton won third place in Student Designed Advertisement for an ad promoting working for the student newspaper.

• Saushe Young won fourth place for a News Story on the missing money from AGS fundraising efforts in 2009.

• Andrea Nguyen won fourth place in Critical Review for a story on the film, “Date Night.”

• Dennis Biles won fourth place in Inside Page Layout/Broadsheet for a sports page design.

• Christina Cortez won two awards in the Illustration category, fourth place for a drawing to accompany a story from a student traveling abroad in India, and an honorable mention for an illustration commemorating 9-11.

• Erin Johnson won honorable mention in Editorial Cartoon for a drawing of a student overloaded with books.

• Experience Staff won honorable mention in Editorial Writing for an editorial following the theft of all the newsroom computers about the rising theft on campus.

• In addition, two of 11 LMC students attending the annual JACC Norcal Conference at SJSU with about 225 other students and advisers, won awards in on-the-spot categories.

• Rebekah Gangar won a second place award in the on-the-spot News Photo contest for her photo of the keynote speaker.

• Angelica Gonzalez took fourth place in the broadsheet division of a contrived News Judgment and Layout contest.

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