Valley Star

Issue date: 4/14/04 Section: News

The staff and advisers of The Valley Star were honored with what is believed to be their first Pacesetter award since the early '80s at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges statewide conference in Los Angeles last weekend. The award, given to only four publications this year, represents JACC's highest honor.

"It was truly a collective effort of Valley Star staff coupled with the guidance of our advisers," said Fall 2003 Editor in Chief Krista Carlson. "There was a lot of hard work that went into this ... The next test is to see if the future staff upholds this honor."

The conference, held at the Wilshire Grand hotel in downtown Los Angeles, spanned four days and included more than 60 schools from all over California, with two from Arizona and one from Ohio. The event featured competitions for mail-in entries from the Fall 2003 semester, bring-in entries prepared the week before the conference and on-the-spot contests.

Media Credit: Scott Howard Valley Star photographer Scott Howard´s first place-winning spot feature photo: MAKING SPACE - During a lull before the lunchtime rush, La Casa Verde employee Soonie Paik clears space for more vegetables.

When the points from the mail-in categories were totaled, The Star was deemed one of the top five community college newspapers in its region for the third consecutive semester, earning the "General Excellence" honor.

When the points from the bring-in and spot competitions were added, The Star was named a "Pacesetter," one of the best in the entire state, winning 18 awards in all.

Among the staff's individual winners, photographer Jorge Gallegos received nods for his work in news and sports, bringing his career total to 12 JACC awards. Photographer Scott Howard collected a first place plaque for his spot feature photo; and photographer, writer and former Valley Life editor Tammy Abbott took home the top mail-in prize for her courageous photo essay of last year's firestorms.

Media Credit: Tammy Abbott Valley Star photographer Tammy Abbott took second place in the mail-in news photo competition for this shot. To see her first place-winning photo essay, please go to the Gallery section.

Every member of The Star's writing team took home at least one prize, with several capturing multiple awards.

"It's a wonderful feeling," said Abbott, "and since this is my second and last year with The Valley Star, winning first place in the Photo Story-Essay category is a great honor and especially sweet. Right now I am walking on air and I am very proud to be a member of the team of journalists that are now staffing one of the four best papers in the state!"

To view Abbott's award-winning gallery of the southland firestorms, please see related story.


COMPLETE LIST OF VALLEY STAR WINNERS


JACC Spot Winners

Pacesetter
Los Angeles Valley College

Bring-In Infographic
HM Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Valley College

Editorial Cartoon
HM Tiffany Farmakis, Los Angeles Valley College

Feature Photo
1 Scott Howard, Los Angeles Valley College

Copy Editing
HM Krista Carlson, Los Angeles Valley College

Feature Story
3 Tiffany Farmakis, Los Angeles Valley College
4 Krista Carlson, Los Angeles Valley College

News Story
3 LaGina Phillips, Los Angeles Valley College

Opinion Writing
2 Susan Maltby, Los Angeles Valley College

Sports Writing
3 Peter O'Connor, Los Angeles Valley College
HM Sam Hahn, Los Angeles Valley College


Mail-in awards

General Excellence - Broadsheet
Valley Star, Los Angeles Valley College

Feature Photo
2 Jorge Gallegos, Los Angeles Valley College

News Photo
2 Tammy Abbott, Los Angeles Valley College

Photo Illustration
HM Bob Teichmann and Jordan DiNapoli, Los Angeles Valley College

Photo Story/Essay
1 Tammy Abbott, Los Angeles Valley College

Sports Feature Photo
HM Jorge Gallegos, Los Angeles Valley College

Critical Review
4 Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Valley College
HM Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Valley College

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