The Los Medanos College Experience staff won 17 awards from the Journalism Association of Community College State Conference in La Jolla. They competed in on-the-spot competitions at the conference and judges assessed content submitted from the 2023 calendar year .
The conference took place from March 7-9 and marked a new milestone as the Experience won the Pacesetter Award for the print publication. This year was the first time the staff was recognized, making them one of the top three colleges named.
Current editors and staff won awards in other respective and on-the-spot categories where their talent was highlighted the most.
Online Editor Juan Cebrieros let his skills speak for himself. He won first place in the on-the-spot sports writing competition for his coverage of the University of California San Diego’s baseball game.
“My writing is very AP style, very structured, but recently, I’ve been trying to break out of that shell,” said Cebrieros, adding, “I’ve just been trying to find the lore of the story in the game and not make the game itself the story. I think that’s why I was able to win first place. I was just able to find something new.”
Cebrieros has an affinity for sports, so naturally, this contest was right up his alley. He also won an honorable mention for the publication sports game story competition. Similarly to his respective editors, they took their chance to expand on their interests.
Editor-in-chief, Aliyah Ramirez won a meritorious award for the enterprise news story competition. Also, she won second place in the on-the-spot news judgment layout competition and got first place alongside Cebrieros in the front page layout category. This marked a notable win for Aliyah Ramirez because she wasn’t sure how the judges would critique her work and instead used the opportunity to grow from her experiences.
“After attending the last conference, I was able to see my improvements after a year from being staff writer to editor-in-chief,” said Aliyah Ramirez. “Most of my awards centered around page layout and design, which is something I never considered myself to be the best at, so I was surprised when I heard my name called.”
Learning from improvements and experiences is something that the staff has been able to take advantage of to hone their skills.
Staff Writer and Media Editor Jordan Suisala won fourth place for the on-the-spot opinion writing competition. This is a milestone for her, considering it was her first year attending the JACC conference and competing against other community colleges in the state.
“I wanted to add as much of my writing voice as possible,” said Suisala. “I’ve been told it’s very strong [her writing] so I wanted it to be the reason I got any recognition.”
Graphics Editor Alexis Ramirez won both honorable mention and second place in the editorial cartoon competition, as well as winning third and first place in the photo illustration competition.
“It reminded me that the work we’re doing here at LMC, for the Experience, matters,” said Alexis Ramirez. She adds that it “resonates with people not just on campus, but throughout the state.”
At the ceremony, former staff members also got recognition in visual and written storytelling.
Former Arts and Culture Editor, Mohammad Najimi won an honorable mention in the editorial category and third and first place winner in the inside page layout contest.
Former Photo Editor Katherine Mustar won an honorable mention in the photo essay category. Former Staff Writer Noah Cannon won an honorable mention for his column writing.
