The Oak Leaf newspaper won General Excellence and several other awards at the 53rd Annual Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) convention in Burbank Calif. over spring break.
JACC is an annual convention with a Northern and Southern Conference in the fall semester and the annual state convention in the spring.
Ten SRJC students competed in on-the-spot journalism contests in news, feature, critical review, sports writing, copy editing, video and photo categories.
JACC has a committee of students and faculty advisors who help to organize each convention and keep communication open throughout the year. For the students, there’s a Nor Cal and So Cal president that’s in charge of their particular regions and a State President, which oversees the State Convention and corresponds between the two regional presidents. This year’s State President, SRJC student, Benjamin “Brutus” Gruey , ended his term at the convention.
Besides contests, SRJC students attended workshops given by journalism professionals on topics from social media to photo editing.
Santa Rosa Junior College’s Oak Leaf Newspaper won awards in several areas, both mail-in Feature Story and On the Spot Feature Story with first place finishes in both, won by Michael Shufro and Jessie De La O. Shufro also won a 3rd place for mail-in editorial writing. SRJC also did well in On the Spot Critical Review with Noah Diamond-Stolzman getting second place and also an Honorable Mention for Mail-in Video Journalism. Oak Leaf co-editor-in-chief Gruey won a third place for inside page layout.
The General Excellence Award goes to schools whose newspapers provide strong news and feature writing, attractive design, vibrant opinion, sports, and sharp photography.
This is the second straight semester that The Oak Leaf has won General Excellence. General Excellence is graded on the previous semesters last three issues printed.
Oak Leaf Adviser Anne Belden said, “I’m really proud of all the top writing awards we won this year. But I’m most pleased with winning General Excellence because it reflects the hard work and dedication that the entire Oak Leaf staff puts into the paper.