Members of City College’s The Guardsman Walk Away From NorCal Regional JACC Conference With an Abundance of Recognition and Valuable Insights

November 18, 2024 The Guardsman

Those in attendance at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges NorCal conference, hosted at San Francisco State University, could network with students from other schools and speak with representatives from four-year transfer institutions regarding their journalism and communication programs. San Francisco, Calif. Oct. 26, 2024 (Kyra Young/The Guardsman)

By Kyra Young

kyrajyoung@gmail.com

Members of The Guardsman and City College’s journalism program walked away with a heft of awards after the NorCal Regional Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) Conference on Saturday, Oct. 26 at San Francisco State University (SFSU).

Founded in 1955, the JACC is a nonprofit that brings together students, educators and publications by providing networking and educational events to inspire members at every stage of their journalism career. This fall’s NorCal conference included a full day of on-the-spot contests, meetings and workshops taught by well-regarded professionals in the field for some 150 students hailing from 14 different community colleges in the region. Representatives from SFSU, San Jose State, Cal State Fullerton and a number of other four-year transfer institutions were also present to answer questions about their journalism and mass communication programs for prospective students.

The Journalism Association of Community Colleges NorCal conference, hosted at San Francisco State University, brought together students from a number of schools within the region to network, compete and attend workshops led by professionals in the field to advance their storytelling, reporting, photography and communication skills. San Francisco, Calif. Oct. 26, 2024 (Kyra Young/The Guardsman)

Students were welcomed with an array of baked goods upon check-in as the day kicked off, followed by an outline of the day’s events by Associate Professor and SFSU Journalism Department Chair Jesse Garnier, who then introduced keynote speaker Candice Nguyen, a Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist with NBC Bay Area.

Nguyen’s speech also commenced the day’s five on-the-spot competitions: newswriting, opinion writing, copyediting, social media content creation and feature photography. Participating students went off to put their skills to the test to accurately capture, record and report on her presentation to submit their piece for the day’s 1 p.m. deadline.

Eleven workshops were held throughout the day, providing tangible tools and techniques for students to advance their own reporting, photography and storytelling skills. A lunch break provided over 200 Subway sandwiches and snacks, followed by the opportunity to participate in a speed networking session with four-year college transfer representatives, as well as a tour of the SFSU campus for interested students.

The end of the conference brought all students full-circle into the auditorium once again for an awards ceremony, celebrating not only the contest winners of the day, but also awarding publications for their broadcasting and podcasting; publication formatting; online presence; sports stories and sports action photos; profile feature; and newswriting and news photos, to name a few.

The Guardsman publication and its contributing members earned 14 different awards from the conference, as listed below.

2024 NorCal Regional Publication Awards

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