Competitions and Awards

Outstanding Student Journalism

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2024-25

La Voz Staff Win Journalism Awards

De Anza journalism students took home 27 awards from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges annual NorCal Regional Conference, held on Saturday, Oct. 26, at San Francisco State University.

The honors included 25 awards for work published during the 2023-24 school year, plus two awards earned by Carolyn Zhao and Frank Meyers for work produced in on-the-spot competitions during the conference. Here is a complete list of award winners:

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2023-24

California Journalism Awards: 2023 Campus Contest

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"Pacesetters" at National College Media Conference

De Anza students took home a stack of awards after attending a national college journalism conference in La Jolla – including a Pacesetter Award for print media, recognizing the La Voz student newspaper for its work. 

The La Voz staff also won newspaper and online General Excellence awards; an eighth-place honor in the national “Best of Show” award from the Associated Collegiate Press; and 33 other awards in various categories sponsored by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges and the California College Media Association – including six for work completed during “on-the-spot” contests held at the Associated Collegiate Press Spring National College Media Conference on March 7-9.

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Cal Press Grant

De Anza's student newspaper, La Voz, has received a $1,500 equipment grant from the California Press Foundation, a nonprofit that "aims to ensure the future and integrity of California journalism through education and professional support." The check was presented on Jan. 23 by Danielle McKinney, a foundation representative who also led a discussion with La Voz staffers about the future of journalism, including artificial intelligence.

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Northern California JACC Awards

Students in the Journalism program took home an impressive 27 awards after attending the Journalism Association of Community Colleges NorCal Conference on Oct. 14 at San Francisco State University.

The De Anza students won 24 awards for work published over the past three quarters, and three more awards for "on-the-spot" contests held on the day of the conference.

Winners include:

Congratulations to these Journalism students and faculty adviser Farideh Dada!

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2022-23 Awards

La Voz Wins CNPA Awards

La Voz News, the college’s student news media, won three awards from the California News Publishers Association for work published in 2022.

These include first place in the Illustration category, second place in Feature Photo, and second place in Columns. The awards were announced in May.

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National College Media Conference Awards

Student members of the La Voz newspaper staff won numerous awards during the Spring National College Media Conference held in San Francisco this past weekend. La Voz staffers won first, second and third-place awards in 10 contests sponsored by the California College Media Association, and another 12 awards in contests sponsored by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges. These included first-place awards won by Autumn Alvarez, Trevis Dampier and Jocelyn Phanmaha.

In addition, La Voz Managing Editor Andrea Saldana was elected for a one-year term as the Northern California representative to the Journalism Association of Community Colleges. Three former La Voz students – who are currently attending San José State – also won awards for their work at the San José State student publication.

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Northern California JACC Awards

De Anza journalism students won 15 awards at the Northern California conference of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges, held on Oct 22 – including a General Excellence award to the staff of the La Voz News, first place to Nathan Canilao for profile feature story writing and first place to Michael Davis for critical review writing.

The awards were for the work of students in the current quarter as well as the winter and spring quarters. Additional award winners included: Laura Atkinson, Thi Khan Linh (Lauren) Bui, Rory Conlon, Andrea Infante, Kevin Nguyen, E.W. Park, Yvonne Phan, Maida Suta and Jessie Zhou.

• Read more in La Voz

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2021 ACP Awards

De Anza journalism students were honored for their work on the La Voz News website in 2021 and in live contests held at a college journalism conference in March. Six De Anza students attended the Associated Collegiate Press Spring National College Media Conference.

At the conference, La Voz News was recognized with a General Excellence award for its website. In the live contests, social media editor Teddy Ha won first place in Canva Infographics. Features editor James Rahn placed second in copyediting. Editor-in-chief Kevin Nguyen received an honorable mention for sports writing in his coverage of a live baseball game. Nguyen also won four awards for his published work in La Voz. 

For work published in 2021, La Voz student Vi Nguyen won third place in the illustration category while Jodi Wong received an honorable mention for a profile about medical assisting student Zack Wilson. Journalism chair and advisor to La Voz News Cecilia Deck was also recognized with the California Journalism and Media Affiliates Journalism Educator of the Year award. The award recognizes leadership and support that goes beyond the journalism program and has impact across campus, community and local or regional associations.

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2020 JACA Awards

De Anza's student news outlet, La Voz News earned top honors in March from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges – including awards for Online General Excellence and Newspaper General Excellence.

Along with the two excellence awards, which honor the entire La Voz staff, the association's 2020 Publication Awards also recognized these De Anza students for work published in 2019:

• Andrew Shinjo – third place for editorial writing
• Thomas Anthony – honorable mention for column writing
• Sara Sanderford – honorable mention for illustration

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Fall 2019 - NorCal Conference

De Anza College journalism students won two first place awards, a general excellence award and six other awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2019 NorCal fall conference Nov. 16 at San Jose State University.

First place awards went to Julia Kolman, current editor-in-chief of La Voz News, for a front-page infographic about student drug use, and Thomas Anthony for opinion stories about overnight parking and free college. Other awards:

• Second place to Andrew Shinjo for an editorial about stipends for student senators
• Third place to current managing editor Ethan Bennett for a news story in a live writing competition at the conference
• Fourth place to current opinions editor Bryan Vo and Don Le for a video about visual artist Jennifer Lay.
• Honorable mentions to John Bricker for a feature story about vinyl records, Hwan Lee for "Nice Buns" burger reviews and Christian Trujano for an editorial supporting student journalism.

Six De Anza students attended the conference with La Voz News adviser Cecilia Deck, as well as delegations from 17 other Northern California community colleges. Three De Anza journalism alum who had transferred to SJSU played key volunteer roles: Christian Trujano, Stephanie Lam and Kunal Mehta.

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Spring 2019 - Statewide Convention

La Voz News student journalists received the following awards for work in La Voz News and Video La Voz from 2018, and in live competitions at the convention:

• General Excellence - La Voz News website
• Meritorious award – Enterprise news story: Genevieve Kolar, Christian Babcock, Matt Risko (baseball field)
• Second Place – Copyediting (live competition) – My Do
• Second Place – Profile Feature Story – Christian Babcock (football player)
• Third Place – Video journalism – Christian Trujano, Ethan Maneja, Jack Molmud and Aysha Rehman (whiteboard video about program cuts
• Third Place – Student Designed Ad – Genevieve Kolar
• Fourth Place – Editorial – John Bricker
• Honorable mention – Feature Story (live competition) – Abhiram Prattipati
• Honorable mention – Inside Page Layout – Audrey Marques and Tremaurice Johnson (spring fashion)
• Honorable mention – Feature Story – Damon Ong (low-income international students)
• Honorable mention – Environmental Portrait Photo – Jeffrey Windham (photo of MC Black Jesus - shown left)

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Spring 2018 - Statewide Convention

La Voz News won awards in opinion writing, editorial writing, video journalism, informational graphics and student-designed ad  at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges state convention in Burbank  March 22-24.

Students received the following awards:

• Second place: Kunal Mehta for the opinion story "Fight Nazis with peaceful condemnation, not punches."
• Second place: Jack Molmud and Francisco Cardenas for the video "Humans of De Anza: Evan Garcia"
• Third place: Genevieve Kolar, Ana Acosta, Audrey Marques and Megan Wong for the infographic "Sexual assault and harassment survey"
• Fourth place: Jaerica Vitug for an advertisement for De Anza College Library's Banned Book Week.
• Honorable mention: Jarra Gojolo and Francisco Cardeanas for the video "Parking at De Anza"
• Honorable mention: Neil McClintick for the editorial "De Anza Police should be more transparent"

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Fall 2017 - NorCal Convention          

La Voz News hosted the Journalism Association of Community Colleges NorCal Conference at De Anza College on Oct. 21 and took home 15 awards for writing, graphics, photos, layout and its website. 
Thirteen De Anza students attended the day-long conference, along with about 150 students from 17 other community college journalism programs in Northern California.
Students participated in contests and workshops on reporting, media law, graphics, photojournalism, social media and other topics. Among the 27 speakers were three Pulitzer Prize winners.
Aysha Rehman, a La Voz reporter, won a fourth place award for an editorial cartoon she created in a live contest at the conference.
La Voz staff members also won awards for their 2016-2017 work in the newspaper and online:
·      Larry Ashley: First place, editorial cartoon;
·      La Voz staff: First place, editorial (for Neil McClintick’s editorial urging more transparency by police);
·      La Voz staff: General excellence, online;
·      Matthew Fernandez: Second place, photo story/essay;
·      Jaerica Vitug – Second place, student designed ad;
·      Francisco Alvarez and Jack Malmud – third place, video journalism;
·      La Voz staff – third place, inside page layout; fourth place, front page layout;
·      Karan Abrol – fourth place, feature story; honorable mention – news story;
·      Jon Dupin – Fourth place, opinion story;
·      Terry Pon – honorable mention, sports game story.
La Voz adviser/journalism chair Cecilia Deck was elected president of JACC's Northern California region for 2018-19.
La Voz has been a member of the association since it first published in 1967.

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Spring 2017 - Statewide Convention

La Voz News won awards in reporting, photography, design, layout, copy editing, opinion writing and online presentation at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges state convention in Sacramento March 30-April 1.

Students received the following awards:

• First place: Adrian Discipulo for designing an ad for the De Anza Library’s Banned Books display.
• General excellence, website: lavozdeanza.com.
• Meritorious enterprise news reporting: Alena Naiden for a story about a blind De Anza Student.
• Second place, informational graphic: Laura Shkouratoff for a graphic about Valentine’s Day.
• Second place, sports photo: Nick Girard for a live contest of roller derby photos.
• Third place, sports photo: Terry Pon, also for roller derby photos.
• Honorable mentions to Naiden and Discipulo for page layout; Matthew Fernandez for sports action photo (soccer); Fernandez for a photo essay about De Anza’s soccer team; Paul Ledesma for a profile of a De Anza dancer; Yane Ahn for copy editing and La Voz staff for an editorial advocating due process following the 2016 DASB Senate elections.

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Fall 2016 - NorCal Conference

La Voz News design editor Adrian Discipulo won four awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges Northern California conference in Pittsburg, California Oct. 15. The awards – for graphics and photography, honored his 2015-16 work on a photo essay about Donald Trump protests in downtown San Jose, an infographic about the drought and an ad for De Anza Library’s Banned Book display.

Former reporter and graphic designer Laura Shkouratoff won first place for a graphic about Valentine’s Day.

La Voz staff won first place for an editorial about efforts to impose a social media policy that would contravene students’ First Amendment rights, and honorable mention for an editorial about student senate elections.

Two enterprise news pieces won meritorious awards for Alena Naiden, former features editor and Kassandra Amper, former reporter. Naiden’s story described the challenges faced by a disabled student who said De Anza did not accommodated her needs, and Amper interviewed a woman who was sexually assaulted at De Anza, who explained why she did not report it.

Former reporter Paul Ledesma won honorable mention for a profile of a Persian dancer whose dancing broke religious rules.

Six current La Voz staffers and editors attended the conference, which included journalism students from about 40 Northern California colleges.

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Fall 2014 - NorCal Conference

De Anza College journalism students received several awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2014 Northern California conference in Sacramento on Nov. 8. About 20 college journalism programs competed.
Former La Voz sports editor Rajvir Kaur won a second-place award in the “Sports Game Story” category for a February 2014 story about a De Anza Dons men’s basketball game in which a 51-year-old former crack addict got two minutes of playing time. Kirk Lee had completed rehab from a 30-year habit only two years before, and had set playing on a college basketball team as a sustaining goal.
La Voz photographer Adrian Discipulo won two second-place awards for news and feature photos, both published during the 2013-2014 academic year.
Editor-in-chief Jay Serrano won third place in a copy editing contest held during the convention.

Pictured: Catherine Swords, 18, undecided major, speaks with students about sexual violence at the Take Back the Night event at De Anza College on June 3, 2014 (Adrian Discipulo/LaVoz)

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Fall 2013 - NorCal Conference

Former La Voz editor Michael Mannina received first place in copy editing, while current editor-in-chief Nathan Mitchell won third place in the same category. De Anza journalism students from previous quarters also received awards in various categories, including cartoon, illustration, news photo and sports action photo.

De Anza journalism students from previous quarters also received awards in categories such as editorial cartoons, illustration, news photo and sports action photos.

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Spring 2013 - Statewide Convention

De Anza journalism students received a number of awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2013 convention in Sacramento on April 11-13.

• Nathan Mitchell, news editor, won the Dr. Tom Pasqua Memorial Award and a cash prize for his essay about teaching news literacy in today’s digital age.
• Wen Lee, former reporter, won second place in feature writing for his story “Zombies Attack De Anza: Arm Yourself! Prepare for Z-Day on Campus,” a serious look at classes students can take to improve preparedness.
• Sara Gobets, former editor, won third place in feature writing for her story about Carl Clark, an African American World War II hero who finally received a Marine Medal of Commendation in 2012.
• Gobets and Andrew Puckett, former editor, won second place in tabloid layout for a spread about the 2012 March in March.
• Nareen Bagdasarian won fourth place for an editorial cartoon supporting Big Bird and PBS.
• Michale Mannina, former editor, won first place in broadcast news writing and fourth place in copyediting at live contests during the convention.

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Fall 2012 - NorCal Conference

The De Anza student newspaper won numerous awards in September. Competing against students from 24 other community colleges, De Anza students brought won the following awards:

• First place: Martin Towar for column writing
• Second place: Michael Mannina for copy editing
• Third place: Alicia Rivera for column writing
• Honorable mentions: Bryce Druzin for opinion piece; Sara Gobets for page layout, news photo and feature story; Andrew Puckett for page layout; Christopher Wu for sports action photo

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Spring 2012 - Statewide Convention

The student newspaper picked up seven awards at the JACC convention held March 22-24 in Burbank. Nine journalism students and their adviser, Cecilia Deck, attended the conference. Winners include:

• Bryce Druzin, first place for on-the-spot broadcast news writing, third place for copyediting
• Sara Gobets, second place for feature photo
• Michael Mannina, honorable mention for copyediting
• Leila Forouhi, honorable mention for sport writing
• Israel Gutierrez and Druzin, first place for front page layout
• Galen Oback, third and honorable mention for editorial cartoons

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Fall 2011 - NorCal Conference

Journalism students received three awards at the JACC Northern California conference in Sacramento on Nov. 12, competing with 220 students from 20 other colleges.

The live contest awards included:

• Copy Editing – 2^nd place, Michael Mannina
• News Story – 3^rd place, Bruce Druzin
• News Story – Honorable Mention, Leila Forouhi

Judged on work from the 2010-2011 academic year, De Anza won in the following categories:

• Online Newspaper – General Excellence
• Front Page Layout – 1^st place, Israel Gutierrez and Michael Mannina
• Illustration – 2^nd place and Honorable Mention, Galen Oback

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Spring 2011 - Statewide Convention

De Anza journalism students brought home eight awards from the JACC competition, including General Excellence for La Voz Weekly. De Anza competed against approximately 50 community colleges.

• General Excellence Newspaper – La Voz Weekly
• Enterprise Story/Series – Refugio Garcia, Kelsey Lester-Perry, Armando Luna, Aliyah Mohammed and Laura Wenus
• News Photo – 4^th place, Justin Taylor
• Web/Broadcast News – Honorable Mention La Voz Weekly Staff
• Editorial Writing – Honorable Mention La Voz Weekly Editorial Board
• News Judgment/Layout Broadsheet – 1^st place, Israel Gutierrez
• Copy Editing – 3^rd place, Michael Mannina
• Feature Story – 4^th place, William Ferguson

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Fall 2010 - NorCal Conference

17 delegates (students and staff) from attended the JACC NCal conference at San Jose State University. De Anza students brought home seven awards.

• Online Journalism General Excellence – La Voz staff
• 1st place Editorial Cartoon – Brandon Selph
• 3rd place Illustration – Justin Taylor
• 3rd place Bring-in Advertisement – Cy Hodgkins
• Honorable Mention Editorial Cartoon – Ryan Brusuelias
• Honorable Mention Writing – La Voz staff
• Honorable Mention On-the-spot News Story – Nadia Banchik