The Los Medanos College Experience staff participated in the Journalism Association of Community College state conference in Sacramento and brought plenty of hardware back home to Pittsburg.

A total of nine awards were reeled in by the staff at the conference that took place from April 28-30. The Experience newspaper won General Excellence in print edition, reflecting the work the staff has been putting over the past calendar year.

While editor-in-chief Lilly Montero was not able to attend, she is proud of the staff’s performance.

“Our performance at JACC is indicative of our growth here at the Experience,” said Montero. “I’m especially proud of our J110 students who performed super well in the competitions at JACC.”

That surprise is due to the tendency that first year journalism students  do not normally win at the state conference.

Erick Amaya and Hazel Recinos each displayed their talent behind the lense, both photographers winning first place awards in their respective categories. Amaya won the on-the-spot sports photo contest and Recinos won the creative portrait.

“It took me a second to process it. I saw the picture I submitted show up on the screen and my jaw just kinda dropped,” said Amaya. “I was shocked because I thought someone with more photography experience would win.”

Additionally, former photo editor Cathie Lawrence won two awards in sports photography. But it wasn’t just the photographers that took home awards.

Illustrator Alfonso Camus won first place in editorial cartoon. The cartoon that got the awards centered around the frequency with gun violence at schools, a topic which the Experience staff covered last year.

The Experience covered local east county’s National School Walkout a month after the school shooting occurred in Parkland, Fla. Brenna Enos, Chris Ruiz, Lilly Montero and A.R. Broom’s coverage landed them an honorable mention in short photo essay. Former editor-in-chief Adria Watson also won honorable mention in news writing.

Experience advisor Cindy McGrath also won the Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in the two-year division.