The Los Medanos College Experience staff made off with a handful of awards at this year’s Journalism Association of Community Colleges Northern Regional Conference. Both current staff members and veteran staff members from prior semesters won awards.

JACC conferences consist of several workshops staffed by experts in the field. This year’s conference included seminars on media law, how to write snappy headlines, be successful on social media. The conference also had a keynote speaker, film screenings and two types of contests — submission and on-the-spot.

Submission style contests involve attending newsrooms submitting work from the previous semester ahead of time so it can be judged by a panel of faculty from the various JACC affiliated colleges. On-the-spot style contests involve students observing an event writing a story or composing a photo package within a set amount of time.

The winners of both contest formats are announced at the awards ceremony at end of the convention. Certificates are given out for honorable mentions and fifth, fourth, third and second place, and commemorative plaques are given out for first place wins.

Former editor-in-chief Adria Watson took home three awards. She won second place in the feature story category, fourth place for a photo-story essay she worked on with three other staff members and an honorable mention for front page layout.

“I am very proud of the way things ended before I left,” said Watson. “I think it’s awesome anytime anyone on staff gets recognized at JACC and I’m glad people got the recognition they deserve.”

Several of the Experience’s awards were won in various photo categories by both former and current staff members. Former staff members who won awards for their photography include Eric Perez, Cathie Lawrence and D’Aujah Gordon. Perez won first place in the sports feature photo category for an intense black and white photo of a student playing basketball — Lawrence won fourth place in the sports action photo category and Gordon won second place in the feature photo category.

Current co-editor-in-chief Perry Continente also placed second in the news photo category for his explosive photo of a counter protester at a “Unite the Right” rally in San Francisco last year. Continente also received an honorable mention in the on-the-spot news writing competition.

Former staff member Brenna Enos also won two awards, one for a feature profile story about LMC professor Briana McCarthy swimming the English Channel and another for the photo-story essay she worked on with Watson.

“It always feels awesome to get an award for what you’re passionate about,” said Enos. “To know I won alongside my friends with our photo-story essay makes it even better.”

Azi Carter, another former staff member, placed third in the opinion writing category for her piece on restorative justice.

Alfonso Camus, a contributor to the paper, won an award for his editorial cartoon.

The Experience staff overall brought home two awards in the category of “General Excellence” for both the print and online editions of the paper.

“It’s a really cool feeling to be part of a paper that continues to receive awards for the standard of its publications,” said current staff member Robert Pierce.