ECC Journalism Student Awards
News editor Fernando Haro, right, is pictured with his award-winning tweet, along with Ernesto Sanchez and Giselle Morales, editors for The Union. Haro won the College Media Association Apple Award for Best Tweet, competing against students from colleges and universities nationwide.
The work of El Camino College's student journalists drew honors at the state, regional and national levels this month.
In the annual California College Media Association competition, The Union newspaper and Warrior Life magazine secured one first, six seconds, three thirds and five honorable mentions in the community colleges division, with winners announced at the organization's awards banquet in La Jolla. First place for magazine photo went to Jorge Villa, while second places were awarded to Amanda Alvarez for magazine column, Melanie Chacon for feature story, Ryan Guitare for editorial, Jack Kan for feature photo, Miyung Kim for news photo and Esteban Mendez for newspaper column. The Union won a third place for overall newspaper design, while Fernando Haro took a third for news series and Jose Tobar a third for non-breaking news story. Both The Union and Warrior Life scored honorable mentions for overall excellence, and the Union's Zach Hatakeyama received an honorable mention for front page design. Other honorable mentions went to Sarah Desmond for magazine story and Quinn Buffandeau for breaking news.
At a separate conference, the College Media Association honored Haro for best student media tweet in the nation in competition with two- and four-year colleges. Haro, the Union's news editor this semester, won the David L. Adams Apple Award at the organization's conference in New York for his engaging tweet that linked to his story and a video on the death of the campus "dean of cats" in an apparent coyote attack. Four student editors and adviser Stefanie Frith attended the conference.
The El Camino College journalism department has also been advised that two students and the Union's affiliated website eccunion.com have qualified as regional finalists in competition sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists. The ultimate Region 11 winners will advance to national competition. Kim is a finalist in the breaking news photography category while Darwyn Samayoa is a finalist in the sports photography competition. The winners in the regional contest, which accepts entries from Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and the Mariana Islands, will be announced at the organization's conference in Las Vegas at the end of March.
The Union newspaper, which is produced by students enrolled in journalism classes, has been serving the campus for 74 years. In addition to the print edition available throughout the campus and online home at eccunion.com, the Union can be found on Twitter @ECCunion and on Facebook at El Camino College Union. Warrior Life, which is published each spring, is also available on campus news racks and can be viewed at http://eccunion.com/warrior-life/. Story ideas are welcome and can be submitted to the editor-in-chief, Giselle Morales, via [email protected]. Stefanie Frith, adviser for The Union and Warrior Life, joins Kate McLaughlin as faculty members in journalism. Gary Kohatsu is the photo adviser and Jack Mulkey is the advertising manager.