Journalism department wins at state conference

By The Guardsman Staff

Current and former City College journalism students won a combined 20 awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges State Conference on April 9 in Sacramento, Calif.

The Guardsman, Etc. Magazine and The Guardsman Online all captured general excellence awards, and journalism department Chair Juan Gonzales received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism Education from the California Journalism Education Coalition.

“I am deeply moved by the award,” Gonzales said. “I never expected such an honor.”

The Guardsman captured awards in layout, informational graphics, photo illustrations, news features, audio slide shows, editorial cartoons, news photos, news stories and features.

“I feel that the level of professionalism displayed by The Guardsman’s staff is unmatched,” Editor-in-chief Alex Emslie said in a prepared statement. “This sort of recognition is nice, but we don’t do this work to win awards. We do it because we believe it is important to inform our community.”

Etc. Magazine won awards in profiles, features, opinion stories, photo essays, layout, covers, and illustrations.

“Our students work extremely hard to produce a consistently excellent publication,” Etc. Magazine adviser Tom Graham said. “The stories they produce are good enough to run in any magazine.”

Because The Guardsman Online pays to be independently hosted, the publication is able to maintain a certain level of independence and creativity, Online Editor Atticus Morris said.

“It’s nice to be recognized for working really hard,” Morris said.

Multimedia Editor Joe Fitzgerald and reporters Saidy Lauer and Brian Rinker produced a feature on journalism students pursuing their dreams at the conference that is currently displayed on the JACC homepage as well as at TheGuardsman.com/Journalism-Dreams.

“I feel really proud of the work that my crew put in to make that happen,” Fitzgerald said. “This wouldn’t be possible without having a crew that covers stories professionally. My crew made the decision that they weren’t going to be journalism students. They were going to be journalists.”

Guardsman Photography Editor Frank Ladra and reporter Matthew Gomez both received $100 scholarships at the conference.

“What I like about The Guardsman is the family environment, how we all sort of pull together,” Ladra said. “We hold ourselves to a very high standard.”

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