2008 Woodie Awards
Valley Star Staff Wins Big at JACC
The Valley Star took home many awards including General Excellence.
LaGina Phillips
Issue date: 10/27/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The Valley Star staff and advisers claimed a multitude of awards at the recent Southern California conference of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges, Oct. 15.
At the top of the landslide of honors was the coveted "General Excellence Award," the California community college equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize. The award, given to only four publications this year, represents JACC's highest honor.
Michael Ordoña, award-winning former editor in chief from spring '03, said, "4-0 is an honor and the results of great work by the whole staff, but mostly a testament to the hard work of our advisers, Bill Dauber and Rod Lyons, who have been able to uphold such a high quality paper with the high turnover of community college students."
The two-day conference, held at Cal State Fullerton, included 26 schools from Southern California. The event featured competitions for mail-in entries from the spring 2004 semester and on-the-spot contests.
Among the staff's individual winners, senior staff member and Opinion Editor Susan Maltby, won four on-the-spot awards for feature writing, broadcast news writing, copy editing and editorial writing.
"I am very happy and grateful to have this opportunity to compete with other colleges," said Maltby. "I think it a great form of validation for students who work hard."
Photographer Tammy Abbott, who graduated last semester and moved on to Northridge, received two first place mail-in awards for sports action and feature photo.
The staff veterans weren't the only ones to come away with awards. New to the staff this semester, writer Chelsea Banks received a second-place award for on-the-spot editorial writing.
"All I hoped for was an honorable mention, so winning second place was the most awesome experience," Banks said. "I can't wait until next semester to compete again."
At the top of the landslide of honors was the coveted "General Excellence Award," the California community college equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize. The award, given to only four publications this year, represents JACC's highest honor.
Michael Ordoña, award-winning former editor in chief from spring '03, said, "4-0 is an honor and the results of great work by the whole staff, but mostly a testament to the hard work of our advisers, Bill Dauber and Rod Lyons, who have been able to uphold such a high quality paper with the high turnover of community college students."
The two-day conference, held at Cal State Fullerton, included 26 schools from Southern California. The event featured competitions for mail-in entries from the spring 2004 semester and on-the-spot contests.
Among the staff's individual winners, senior staff member and Opinion Editor Susan Maltby, won four on-the-spot awards for feature writing, broadcast news writing, copy editing and editorial writing.
"I am very happy and grateful to have this opportunity to compete with other colleges," said Maltby. "I think it a great form of validation for students who work hard."
Photographer Tammy Abbott, who graduated last semester and moved on to Northridge, received two first place mail-in awards for sports action and feature photo.
The staff veterans weren't the only ones to come away with awards. New to the staff this semester, writer Chelsea Banks received a second-place award for on-the-spot editorial writing.
"All I hoped for was an honorable mention, so winning second place was the most awesome experience," Banks said. "I can't wait until next semester to compete again."
