Skyline journalism students won several awards at a state convention in Los Angeles during spring break.

The Journalism Association for Community Colleges (JACC) held its annual convention from April 8-11. 

Twelve Skyline students attended the event, which was filled with workshops, special events and guest speakers.  A major emphasis of the convention was placed on the various competitions for writing, photography, editing and other journalistic skills.

“We had a strong presence, between the awards we won and our editor in chief, Helen Tran, being elected as NorCal President,” said Nancy Kaplan-Biegel, The Skyline View advisor and journalism professor.  “Something new I did was make it mandatory for each student to enter a contest.  I think that was successful because even students who were fearful of competing got something out of it.”

Tran made perhaps the biggest impact for Skyline at the conference.  Not only did Tran take second place in the copy editing competition and honorable mention in the broadcast news writing category, but she also decided to run for, and was voted in as, NorCal President of JACC.

“I wanted to run because I wanted to make a difference,” Tran said.  “I think JACC already does a lot of good work and I really wanted to join their team to help student journalism in California truly thrive.”

Tran stated that it is of the upmost importance to improve the communication and networking between all of the schools in California.

“The election was extra special for me because of all of the support I received from the rest of the Skyline students at the conference,” Tran said.

Jay Johnson, a former editor of The Skyline View, was awarded honorable mention for the mail-in news photo competition. His entry pictured SWAT personnel securing Skyline’s campus during the shooting that took place last semester.

“I learned that if something is happening, don’t wait to get a picture,” said Johnson.

Regarding the photo, the judges commented that they liked the timeliness and that it was a good spot photo.

Stephen Benoit, the current online editor for the newspaper, was very proud of winning honorable mention for opinion writing.

The subject of the opinion piece was focused around teens who get distracted by cell phones while driving.  In his article, Benoit argued that banning phones alone is not enough because people will be prone to make the same mistake with other gadgets. 

According to Benoit, it is important to educate people of the logic behind the laws and not to just pass them.

“It was a great learning experience,” Benoit said.  “I learned more this past weekend than I have in the last two years.”

The conference motivated Kaplan-Biegel to get The Skyline View staff more into the multimedia aspect of news, not just to solely focus on the print edition of the newspaper.

“This convention really highlighted for them [the students] that convergence isn’t optional.  They have already implemented in the two weeks back at school some of what they learned,” Kaplan-Biegel said.

The Skyline View staff returned to campus completely reinvigorated and full of new ideas, as well as with more confidence and know-how gained from having attended the conference.

“Collectively, I am so proud of the whole group because they brought so much spirit and energy to the conference,” Kaplan-Biegel said.  “Everyone was there to learn and experience as much as they could about journalism.”

While the journalism students are still reveling in the success and excitement of the state convention, Tran is already looking to the future.

“I think it was a really incredible experience for me as well as the staff,” Tran said.  “I can’t wait for next year and I hope that we will bring home even more awards for Skyline.”