Congratulations to our journalism students who won numerous national and state awards this semester for their work on campus publications. A highlight of the semester was the annual David L. Adams Apple Awards from the College Media Association, a nationwide honor presented in New York City in early March. The Union newspaper won first place in the “Best News Delivery” category for coverage of a homeless encampment near the college, created by the team of Juan Miranda, Rosemary Montalvo, Jose Tobar, and Cameron Woods. In addition, Editor-in-Chief Omar Rashad won second place for “Best Multimedia Package.”
El Camino students also won national recognition through the Maggie Awards, which named Warrior Life “Best Student Print Publication” in the U.S. The magazine was also a finalist for “Best Student Print Cover.” The prestigious Maggie Awards are the publishing and digital media’s longest reigning awards program in the nation, recently celebrating its 68th year. The awards program honors content creators of print, online, social, digital and video media across many different categories. Check out the winning publication led by Editor-in-Chief Justin Traylor here: https://issuu.com/ecunion/docs/med_rez_final_warrior_life_19.
The work of Mari Inagaki, senior staff photographer for The Union, was also celebrated on a national platform. The Society of Professional Journalists awarded Inagaki a Mark of Excellence award in sports photography for her image “Making the pitch.” The Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best in collegiate journalism. The annual competition offers 51 categories in newspapers, magazines, photography, radio, television and online journalism.
Although The Union ceased printed publication when El Camino transitioned to remote teaching and learning, newspaper staff continues to report campus and community news via an online newsletter that runs every two weeks. All are welcome to read and subscribe by visiting: https://theunion.substack.com/.In this format, reporters connect with readers on a digital platform, with the goal to bring communities together by sharing engaging content and important information. The editorial board also publishes a “quarantunes” playlist in its newsletter, featuring different songs and themes.
The Union staff also excelled in state competitions:
The California News Publishers Association gave first-place awards to Luciane Gasperis for an editorial cartoon and Fernando Haro for writing about living as an undocumented student under the Trump administration, a story that judges called a thoughtful piece, “balancing the personal with the greater issue/context.” Other award winners included second place for Matthew Sandoval’s sports game story; second place for Roseana Martinez’s profile story; third place for an enterprise story by Juan Miranda, Jose Tobar, and Cameron Woods; fourth place for Rosemary Montalvo’s enterprise news story; fifth place for Ryan Merritt’s enterprise news story; and a fifth-place award in writing for Haro.
The California College Media Association handed out several prizes to El Camino students, including first place for “Best Breaking News Story” to the team of Juan Miranda, Jose Tobar, and Cameron Woods for a piece about homelessness that judges said “illuminates an important issue using an effective combination of anecdotes with telling details, quotes with emotional resonance and other reports with important context.” Another first place went to Rashad for his news video, “Inglewood: A Gentrifying City.” Additional awards included: second place, “Best Feature Story,” Fernando Haro; second place, “Best Non-News Video,” Jaime Solis; second place, “Best Magazine Photo,” Elena Perez; third place, “Best Magazine Inside Page Design,” Kaylynn Myles; and third place, “Best Newspaper Website.”
Additional state awards came from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges, where students from The Union picked up another 13 awards, including “General Excellence” for the online (website) and print editions of the paper. First-place awards were given to Ryan Farrell for an opinion story and to the team of Fernando Haro, Omar Rashad and Jun Ueda for a news story. Individual student winners included: second place in the “News Story” category for the team of Jose Tobar, Juan Miranda and Cameron Woods; third place for both Mari Inagaki, “Sports Action Photo,” and Fernando Haro, “Feature Story;” fourth place for Jose Tobar, “Profile Feature Story;” and honorable mention awards for Luciane Gasperis, “Illustration,” Omar Rashad, “Video Journalism” and Rosemary Montalvo, “Editorial.” Merritt Ryan Albin and Ryan Farrell each won meritorious awards in the “Enterprise News Story/Series” category.
The Union and Warrior Life are produced entirely by students enrolled in journalism classes. Stefanie Frith, who is the adviser for The Union and Warrior Life, joins Kate McLaughlin as the full-time faculty members in journalism. Luis Sinco is the photo adviser, and Jack Mulkey is the advertising manager.