Student newspaper honored

NORWALK - Cerritos College's Talon Marks newspaper and its online edition TalonMarks.com won the prestigious Pacesetter Award for winning the most awards at the annual Journalism Association of Community Colleges state conference held April 8-10 at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles.Talon Marks was one of four schools that earned the award this year. "The Pacesetter Award is a sweepstakes award and is the equivalent of winning a state championship if we were an athletic team," said Rich Cameron, chair of the college's Mass Communication department and Talon Marks faculty adviser. "I'm extremely proud of the hard work the students put in to produce a weekly newspaper and a standard-setting online student publication." The Talon Marks staff competed in the Mail-in, Bring-in and On-the-Spot competitions as well as attended workshops in various fields of journalism. The conference was attended by more than 500 students and faculty from community colleges throughout California. The Talon Marks staff and newspaper received a total of 17 awards. "I'm proud of the staff. I think this is definitely going to motivate the staff to continue all the hard work they do in the newsroom," said Editor-in-Chief Elieth Koulzons. Samantha Robinson, Talon Marks opinion editor, was elected by student delegates at the conference to represent the Southern California region as the Southern California student president for the JACC. She will serve one year as a student representative on the executive board. Cameron also serves as the organization's online communications director and maintains its website at www.jacconline.org. In addition to the Pacesetter Award, the Talon Marks also won the Online General Excellence award which recognizes the best online publications in the state. Area residents can subscribe to TalonMarks.com for free and receive weekly updates on campus news written by journalism students.

********** Published: May 14, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 4