Cerritos journalism students not only won more than 20 awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges convention this year, but also expanded their horizons with educational opportunities like uncovering the mysteries of Chinatown. Nearly 600 students from California trekked to the Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on the weekend of Mar. 30 to engage in workshops, contests and networking in the 51st annual convention. Awards from on-the-spot contests as well as mail-in entries put Cerritos in the top six schools at the convention, and Talon Marks was honored with General Excellence in print and online editions. “It’s nice to hear that your peers respect what you’re doing,” Werner Gomez, Talon Marks editor-in-chief, said, also stating that the volume of awards was greater than at last year’s convention. Awards included second-place finishes for bring-in advertisement and online photos by Bendict Orbase (editor-in-chief, Wings Magazine) and Tanya Bermudez (managing editor, Talon Marks); another second place was for mail-in editorial cartoon by Roberto Estarnetta. Journalism department head and Talon Marks adviser Rich Cameron said that although awards provide feedback for students, they’re not the most important aspect of the conference.
“Students tend to focus on the value of the contest awards, but the educational value of the workshops and networking with students and instructors are the best parts,” Cameron said.
Gomez said that an important part of the conference are the on-the-spot contests where covering the same story as 30 other schools and have the added pressure of your work being judged against others’.
“I remember the only thought that kept (going) through my mind was, ‘I have to find a great story, I’m going to find a great story, my god, how am I going to find a great story?'” Diona Carrillo, Talon Marks online editor, said.
At the convention, Carrillo and Orbase learned that the team feature contest would be to find a story on in LA within the Chinatown district and write a story with photos.
After walking circles around Chinatown for what seemed like hours, and observing others give up, the team decided to turn one last corner in search of a story.
“That’s when we saw our story. A Vietnamese man who owned a truck similar to the “roach coaches” in downtown mostly owned by Mexican Americans, but this one sold Vietnamese food, and was the only place like it at Chinatown,” explained Carrillo.
Although the man did not want to talk to the two at first, he later opened up to Carrillo and Orbase about his journey to America.
“Basically it’s all about making the subject comfortable,” said Orbase, who noted that he bought food from the man and was almost begging him for his time.
“Maybe (the story was) not award winning,” said Carrillo, “but for us, we won because we didn’t give up.”
Staff photos from JACC Conference
