Riverside City College journalism students received eight awards from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges at its annual state convention March 23-24 in Burbank.

Student journalists from 33 California community colleges competed in the competition, which included the submission of stories, photos and designs published in their student respective newspapers during the 2017 spring and fall semesters. Students also competed in on-the-spot contests during the convention.

Viewpoints, RCC’s student newspaper, received the General Excellence Award, its 33rd such honor since 1996. Viewpoints won for its March 9, March 23 and April 6, 2017 editions, which included front-page stories about a plane crash near RCC, a visit by presidential candidate Jill Stein, and the decision by undocumented immigrants to publicly identify their immigration status.

Dominique Redfearn, editor in chief, won first place for on-the-spot copy editing. She also received two Editors Honor Roll awards and a JACC scholarship. Samantha Bartholomew, managing editor, won second place awards for an on-the-spot news story. She was also selected as one of five students to participate in the California Community Colleges Journalism Collaboration Project. The project was to produce a news story that can be published in college newspapers across the state. Jonathan Van Niel a won fourth place award for a March 9, 2017 opinion column about President Donald Trump’s travel ban and a March 23, 2017 column about domestic terrorism. Artist Isela Orozco took fourth place for an illustration on Viewpoints’ top 15 albums of 2017. Andrew Brady won an honorable mention for a May 11 sports action photo of swimmer Emily Martin.

“Not only did Viewpoints’ students win impressive awards,” Allan Lovelace, advisor for Viewpoints, said, “but our part-time faculty member, Matt Schoenmann, and our former student editor-in-chief, Laura Tapia, served as volunteers throughout the entire convention. Viewpoints had a big impact at the convention.”    

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