The City Times website took home a General Excellence award at the 2019 Journalism Association of Community Colleges state conference in Sacramento. This was City Times’ first entry into the prestigious competition since the hiring of full-time adviser Nicole Vargas before the Fall 2018 semester.

“It has been so inspiring to be surrounded by students who are so committed to embracing digital journalism,” Vargas said. “It is an honor to be recognized alongside so many outstanding programs in the state.”

The December 2018 edition of the Legend magazine also brought in awards in multiple categories for staff members.

Editor-in-Chief Jonny Rico received an achievement award for student leadership at the convention, as well as for feature story for The Uncertain Road Home that covered City College student and mother Lola Chatham and her struggle with homelessness.

The photos accompanying the story won an award in the magazine photo story-essay category, taken by Tiffany Rihana, the former managing editor of the City Times, and Rico.

Arts and Entertainment editor Brian Mohler won two separate awards for his story Fate of the Internet Buffering in Court. The article won for feature story and informational graphic, a visual outline added to the story on the history of net neutrality.

Mohler also won an award last semester in an on-the-spot news writing contest at the JACC regional conference at Cal State Fullerton.

Art Director Diangela Veras was also recognized, receiving an award for magazine design/layout. 

“This is a great recognition and validation of all the hard work that the entire staff put in,” Rico said. “We don’t do it for the awards, but if we continue to do things right, more of these are coming in the future.”

The 3-day state conference rotates from Sacramento to Southern California and allows member schools to come together for speakers, workshops, contests and meetings.

Some of the workshops at the convention included talks about the anatomy of fake news, journalism law, using data in stories and pitching stories with impact. The City Times staff that attended will be sharing what they learned at the event with their staff during the second half of the spring semester.

The 2019 SoCal conference will be held on Oct. 19.