The Guardsman and Etc. Magazine Win Big at San Francisco Press Club’s 45th Annual Greater Bay Journalism Awards

First Place - Best College Newspaper - awarded to Guardsman staff by San Francisco Press Club. Photo provided by Juan Gonzalez

By Gracia Hernandez Rovelo

Email ghern140@mail.ccsf.edu

 

The San Francisco Press Club celebrated the 45th Annual Greater Bay Journalism Awards on Thursday, Dec. 8, hosting nearly 200 attendees at the San Francisco Airport Bayfront.

 

Honoring both professional and student journalists, the Press Club handed out awards for published work that fell into categories that included Magazine/Trade Publications, Newspapers-Daily, Digital Media, Television/Video, Newspapers-Non-Daily, Radio/Audio, College Media and Overall Excellence. 

 

In the College Media category, The Guardsman was named Best College Newspaper, while Etc. Magazine won Best College Magazine.

 

Juan Gonzales, faculty advisor of the newspaper who attended that night, said, “This is the first public event since the pandemic. Many people showed up and there were over 400 Journalism awards presented.” 

 

Broadcasters Wendy Tokuda and Reed Cowman co-hosted with an upbeat presentation, along with keynote speaker and journalist Phil Matier. 

First Place – Best College Newspaper – awarded to Guardsman staff
by San Francisco Press Club. Photo provided by Juan Gonzalez

 

The Guardsman took home 20 awards and Etc. Magazine won seven under the College Media category, including Best College Magazine, Blog/Commentary, Breaking News, Columns-News/Political, Cover Design, Editorial Cartoon, Environment/Nature Report, Feature Layout Design, Feature Story/Light Nature, Feature Story/Serious Nature, Front Page Design, General News, Headline, Investigative Reporting, Photography/News, Photography/Photo Series and Photography/Sports. 

 

“I was really happy to see that our students were honored for their tireless work and dedication and the continuing reputation that we have for producing award-winning journalists as a department,” Gonzales said.

 

Derek Chartrand Wallace, who has been with The Guardsman for two years and runs the paper’s social media accounts, won the College Media: Feature Story/Serious Nature award for his story “Calel Olicia-Aramboles: Reading the Signs Leading to Rams’ Success.” “It was a very interesting story to cover for me. I got in touch with the football player Calel, scheduled the meeting in Zoom with a translator and framed the experience from his teammates who shared their testimony on having a player with hearing disabilities.” The piece is about the running back football player for the Rams and his experience as a deaf athlete. 

 

Erin Blackwell, Editorial Cartoonist at The Guardsman during the spring and fall semesters of 2021, won under two categories — College Media: Editorial Cartoon for her piece titled “Budget Cuts” and College Media: Photography/Sports for “Rams’ Reign Continues with Strong Performances Versus Las Positas and Santa Rosa.” “I had a fantastic experience drawing cartoons for The Guardsman and feel honored to win these awards,” she said.

 

Jessica Lifland, a City College faculty member who instructed the Etc. Magazine class for six years, said, “I’m proud of my students and all the winners; they deserve it. They worked hard during the pandemic to put together something remote and they did a beautiful job.”

The San Francisco Press Club was founded in 1963 and has conducted many activities to encourage excellence in journalism in the counties of Alameda, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Contra Costa. 

For more information on the winners and the organization visit https://sfpressclub.org/2022/12/08/san-francisco-press-club-45th-annual-greater-bay-area-journalism-awards/.