Orange Coast College's student paper, Coast report, won 11 awards on March 11 at the Associated Collegiate Press/Journalism Association of Community Colleges (ACP) Spring National Student Media Conference in San Francisco, including a top 10 ACP Best in Show News Website honor.
"We are very humbled and honored to be recognized for these awards," Coast Report adviser Professor Jeremy Shermak said. "There is no better place in the country to practice community college journalism than California. We are running with the best, and these are the future leaders of journalism. It is quite an honor."
Coast Report received a 10th place win for its website in the ACP’s two-year schools Best in Show News Website category. Among nine California schools, CR finished in the top ten out of over 30 nationwide. Including an overall General Excellence Award for news websites, CR won 10 additional awards in the JACC state competition.
Individual awards were given to former Sports Editor and current USC student Chris Bibona and former Editor in Chief Sarah Guidroz. Bibona took first place for his 2022 Sports Game Story, "The 14 Game," and an honorable mention for his sports column, "The Plank." Guidroz won a second-place honor for her 2022 editorial for Student Press Day. James was given an honorable mention for her 2022 news photo of the OCTA bus strike.
JACC On-The-Spot contests were held throughout the San Francisco conference weekend. Reporter Anna Tran won second place in the Editorial Cartoon category, and Sports Editor Timothy Hessen won third place in the Sports Writing category. Honorable mentions were given to Features Editor Liz Hanna in Opinion Writing and Multimedia Editor Colin Sweeney in two categories: News Photo and Sports Photo.
"The challenge now is for our staff to build upon our reputation and make Coast Report even better in the coming years," Shermak said.
Coast Report will be celebrating its 75th anniversary year starting in October 2023. Its mission is to "teach student journalism while informing our campus community."