The staff of El Vaquero outdid themselves at a recent conference, sponsored by the Journalism Association of Community College’s (JACC), by walking away with a General Excellence plaque on March 23. The conference was held in Sacramento from March 22 through the 24.

General Excellence is awarded to only the best college papers within the association.
Prior to the conference, entries for the mail-in portion were sent out for judging.
Mail-in entries are clippings of published works from the past year which are judged by fellow journalism instructors and professionals.

The General Excellence checklist for newspapers include: Coverage and Content, Writing and Editing, Opinion Content and Photography Art and Graphics.

Graphics Adviser Charles Eastman rejoiced in the staff’s accomplishment.

“Intelligence, persevearance and integrity are the staff attributes that drive the success of the El Vaquero student newspaper,” said Eastman. “I’m proud to be a small contribution to this ever churning production wheel.”

Each of these categories contained sub-categories which are scored on a five-point scale, with five being the highest.

From 100 possible points, El Vaquero scored 92 and only 17 other colleges won this prestigious award.

The staff mailed-in the last three issues of the spring semester [Nov. 17, Dec. 1, Dec. 15] for judging.
This is the first time El Vaquero wins this award.

Members of the staff during the spring semester contributed greatly to the success of the paper.

The former staff included: Features editor Alison Geller, News editor Pauline Guiuan, Photography Editor Jane Pojawa, staff writers Stephen Hotchkiss and Michael Coleman, and photographer Emmanuel Belviz.

Aside from competitions, the students who attend the conference are exposed to an array of workshops that are intended to help and encourage them in their future journalism endeavours.

The JACC state conference is held every year in the spring and alternates between Los Angeles and Sacramento. The Southern California convention is held in the fall at Cal State Fullerton, competition which involves only community colleges from southern California.