Nineteen student representatives from the Citrus College Clarion newspaper and Logos Magazine participated in the Journalism Association of Community Colleges state convention last month in Burbank. The Citrus delegation finished with 11 individual awards – five for work published by the Clarion and Logos during the 2017 calendar year and six from on-the-spot contests that were held during the convention.
Publication contest winners:
- Editorial cartoon: Emily Hermosillo, third place
- Magazine illustration: Evan Solano, fourth place
- Magazine opinion story: Sabrina Gonzalez, honorable mention
- News photo: Kevin Alvarez, honorable mention
- Sports game story: Michael Quintero, honorable mention
On-the-spot contest winners:
- News photo: Maddison October, first place
- News layout (tabloid size): Darius Johari, second place; John Michaelides, fourth place
- Opinion writing: Patrick Fernandez, second place
- Editorial cartoon: Emily Hermosillo, third place
- News writing: Erik Adams, honorable mention
Citrus also won an important team award. The Clarion won "General Excellence" recognition for its print edition. This is the highest overall recognition a publication can receive at the JACC level and encompasses design, photography, writing and more.
Additionally, two Citrus students were elected to the JACC Board of Directors for the year. James Duffy, a member of the Clarion's editorial board, was elected as state student president, while Matthew Smith, a staff member for Logos, was named the board's Southern California student representative.
Evan Solano, a former Citrus student now working as a page designer for the Southern California News Group, was named to the JACC Board of Directors as the professional/alumni representative. Waleed Rashidi, a full-time tenure-track professor at California State University, Fullerton, who also teaches at Citrus in an adjunct capacity, continued his role on the board as the representative of four-year schools statewide.
Finally, JACC spent a portion of its Saturday banquet recognizing Citrus journalism instructor Meg O'Neil. Meg has spent 28 years at Citrus College, overseeing the Clarion, Logos and a variety of other communication classes. With her retirement coming in June, JACC honored her time and effort engaged in improving student journalism not only at Citrus but also statewide.
Thanks to faculty members Meg O'Neil and Patrick Schmiedt for their instruction and guidance!
This article was originally shared on the official Citrus College Facebook account on Monday, April 16, 2018.