Outstanding Student Journalism


2022 JACC Awards

La Voz logoDe Anza journalism students won 15 awards at the Northern California conference of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges, held on Oct 22 – including a General Excellence award to the staff of the La Voz News, first place to Nathan Canilao for profile feature story writing and first place to Michael Davis for critical review writing.

The awards were for the work of students in the current quarter as well as the winter and spring quarters. Additional award winners included: Laura Atkinson, Thi Khan Linh (Lauren) Bui, Rory Conlon, Andrea Infante, Kevin Nguyen, E.W. Park, Yvonne Phan, Maida Suta and Jessie Zhou.


2021 ACP Awards

La VozDe Anza journalism students were honored for their work on the La Voz News website in 2021 and in live contests held at a college journalism conference in March. Six De Anza students attended the Associated Collegiate Press Spring National College Media Conference.

At the conference, La Voz News was recognized with a General Excellence award for its website. In the live contests, social media editor Teddy Ha won first place in Canva Infographics. Features editor James Rahn placed second in copyediting. Editor-in-chief Kevin Nguyen received an honorable mention for sports writing in his coverage of a live baseball game. Nguyen also won four awards for his published work in La Voz. 

For work published in 2021, La Voz student Vi Nguyen won third place in the illustration category while Jodi Wong received an honorable mention for a profile about medical assisting student Zack Wilson. Journalism chair and advisor to La Voz News Cecilia Deck was also recognized with the California Journalism and Media Affiliates Journalism Educator of the Year award. The award recognizes leadership and support that goes beyond the journalism program and has impact across campus, community and local or regional associations.


2020 JACA Awards

La Voz News logoDe Anza's student news outlet, La Voz News earned top honors in March from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges – including awards for Online General Excellence and Newspaper General Excellence.

Along with the two excellence awards, which honor the entire La Voz staff, the association's 2020 Publication Awards also recognized these De Anza students for work published in 2019:

  • Andrew Shinjo – third place for editorial writing
  • Thomas Anthony – honorable mention for column writing
  • Sara Sanderford – honorable mention for illustration

Fall 2019 - NorCal Conference

Award winners

De Anza College journalism students won two first place awards, a general excellence award and six other awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2019 NorCal fall conference Nov. 16 at San Jose State University.

First place awards went to Julia Kolman, current editor-in-chief of La Voz News, for a front-page infographic about student drug use, and Thomas Anthony for opinion stories about overnight parking and free college. Other awards:

  • Second place to Andrew Shinjo for an editorial about stipends for student senators
  • Third place to current managing editor Ethan Bennett for a news story in a live writing competition at the conference
  • Fourth place to current opinions editor Bryan Vo and Don Le for a video about visual artist Jennifer Lay.
  • Honorable mentions to John Bricker for a feature story about vinyl records, Hwan Lee for "Nice Buns" burger reviews and Christian Trujano for an editorial supporting student journalism.

Six De Anza students attended the conference with La Voz News adviser Cecilia Deck, as well as delegations from 17 other Northern California community colleges. Three De Anza journalism alum who had transferred to SJSU played key volunteer roles: Christian Trujano, Stephanie Lam and Kunal Mehta.


Spring 2019 - Statewide Convention

La Voz News student journalists received the following awards for work in La Voz News and Video La Voz from 2018, and in live competitions at the convention:

MC Black Jesus

  • General Excellence - La Voz News website
  • Meritorious award – Enterprise news story: Genevieve Kolar, Christian Babcock, Matt Risko (baseball field)
  • Second Place – Copyediting (live competition) – My Do
  • Second Place – Profile Feature Story – Christian Babcock (football player)
  • Third Place – Video journalism – Christian Trujano, Ethan Maneja, Jack Molmud and Aysha Rehman (whiteboard video about program cuts
  • Third Place – Student Designed Ad – Genevieve Kolar
  • Fourth Place – Editorial – John Bricker
  • Honorable mention – Feature Story (live competition) – Abhiram Prattipati
  • Honorable mention – Inside Page Layout – Audrey Marques and Tremaurice Johnson (spring fashion)
  • Honorable mention – Feature Story – Damon Ong (low-income international students)
  • Honorable mention – Environmental Portrait Photo – Jeffrey Windham (photo of MC Black Jesus - shown left)

Spring 2018 - Statewide Convention

La Voz News won awards in opinion writing, editorial writing, video journalism, informational graphics and student-designed ad  at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges state convention in Burbank  March 22-24.

Students received the following awards:


Fall 2017 - NorCal Convention          

La Voz News hosted the Journalism Association of Community Colleges NorCal Conference at De Anza College on Oct. 21 and took home 15 awards for writing, graphics, photos, layout and its website. 
Thirteen De Anza students attended the day-long conference, along with about 150 students from 17 other community college journalism programs in Northern California.
Students participated in contests and workshops on reporting, media law, graphics, photojournalism, social media and other topics. Among the 27 speakers were three Pulitzer Prize winners.
Aysha Rehman, a La Voz reporter, won a fourth place award for an editorial cartoon she created in a live contest at the conference.
La Voz staff members also won awards for their 2016-2017 work in the newspaper and online:
·      Larry Ashley: First place, editorial cartoon;
·      La Voz staff: First place, editorial (for Neil McClintick’s editorial urging more transparency by police);
·      La Voz staff: General excellence, online;
·      Matthew Fernandez: Second place, photo story/essay;
·      Jaerica Vitug – Second place, student designed ad;
·      Francisco Alvarez and Jack Malmud – third place, video journalism;
·      La Voz staff – third place, inside page layout; fourth place, front page layout;
·      Karan Abrol – fourth place, feature story; honorable mention – news story;
·      Jon Dupin – Fourth place, opinion story;
·      Terry Pon – honorable mention, sports game story.
La Voz adviser/journalism chair Cecilia Deck was elected president of JACC's Northern California region for 2018-19.
La Voz has been a member of the association since it first published in 1967.


Spring 2017 - Statewide Convention

La Voz News won awards in reporting, photography, design, layout, copy editing, opinion writing and online presentation at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges state convention in Sacramento March 30-April 1.

Students received the following awards:

  • First place: Adrian Discipulo for designing an ad for the De Anza Library’s Banned Books display.
  • General excellence, website: lavozdeanza.com.
  • Meritorious enterprise news reporting: Alena Naiden for a story about a blind De Anza Student.
  • Second place, informational graphic: Laura Shkouratoff for a graphic about Valentine’s Day.
  • Second place, sports photo: Nick Girard for a live contest of roller derby photos.
  • Third place, sports photo: Terry Pon, also for roller derby photos.
  • Honorable mentions to Naiden and Discipulo for page layout; Matthew Fernandez for sports action photo (soccer); Fernandez for a photo essay about De Anza’s soccer team; Paul Ledesma for a profile of a De Anza dancer; Yane Ahn for copy editing and La Voz staff for an editorial advocating due process following the 2016 DASB Senate elections.

Fall 2016 - NorCal Conference

La Voz News design editor Adrian Discipulo won four awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges Northern California conference in Pittsburg, California Oct. 15. The awards – for graphics and photography, honored his 2015-16 work on a photo essay about Donald Trump protests in downtown San Jose, an infographic about the drought and an ad for De Anza Library’s Banned Book display.

Former reporter and graphic designer Laura Shkouratoff won first place for a graphic about Valentine’s Day.

La Voz staff won first place for an editorial about efforts to impose a social media policy that would contravene students’ First Amendment rights, and honorable mention for an editorial about student senate elections.

Two enterprise news pieces won meritorious awards for Alena Naiden, former features editor and Kassandra Amper, former reporter. Naiden’s story described the challenges faced by a disabled student who said De Anza did not accommodated her needs, and Amper interviewed a woman who was sexually assaulted at De Anza, who explained why she did not report it.

Former reporter Paul Ledesma won honorable mention for a profile of a Persian dancer whose dancing broke religious rules.

Six current La Voz staffers and editors attended the conference, which included journalism students from about 40 Northern California colleges.


Fall 2014 - NorCal Conference

De Anza College journalism students received several awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2014 Northern California conference in Sacramento on Nov. 8. About 20 college journalism programs competed.
Former La Voz sports editor Rajvir Kaur won a second-place award in the “Sports Game Story” category for a February 2014 story about a De Anza Dons men’s basketball game in which a 51-year-old former crack addict got two minutes of playing time. Kirk Lee had completed rehab from a 30-year habit only two years before, and had set playing on a college basketball team as a sustaining goal.
La Voz photographer Adrian Discipulo won two second-place awards for news and feature photos, both published during the 2013-2014 academic year.
Editor-in-chief Jay Serrano won third place in a copy editing contest held during the convention.

Female student holding candle

Pictured: Catherine Swords, 18, undecided major, speaks with students about sexual violence at the Take Back the Night event at De Anza College on June 3, 2014 (Adrian Discipulo/LaVoz)


Fall 2013 - NorCal Conference

Former La Voz editor Michael Mannina received first place in copy editing, while current editor-in-chief Nathan Mitchell won third place in the same category. De Anza journalism students from previous quarters also received awards in various categories, including cartoon, illustration, news photo and sports action photo.

De Anza journalism students from previous quarters also received awards in categories such as editorial cartoons, illustration, news photo and sports action photos.


Spring 2013 - Statewide Convention

De Anza journalism students received a number of awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2013 convention in Sacramento on April 11-13.

  • Nathan Mitchell, news editor, won the Dr. Tom Pasqua Memorial Award and a cash prize for his essay about teaching news literacy in today’s digital age.
  • Wen Lee, former reporter, won second place in feature writing for his story “Zombies Attack De Anza: Arm Yourself! Prepare for Z-Day on Campus,” a serious look at classes students can take to improve preparedness.
  • Sara Gobets, former editor, won third place in feature writing for her story about Carl Clark, an African American World War II hero who finally received a Marine Medal of Commendation in 2012.
  • Gobets and Andrew Puckett, former editor, won second place in tabloid layout for a spread about the 2012 March in March.
  • Nareen Bagdasarian won fourth place for an editorial cartoon supporting Big Bird and PBS.
  • Michale Mannina, former editor, won first place in broadcast news writing and fourth place in copyediting at live contests during the convention.

Fall 2012 - NorCal Conference

The De Anza student newspaper won numerous awards in September. Competing against students from 24 other community colleges, De Anza students brought won the following awards:

  • First place: Martin Towar for column writing
  • Second place: Michael Mannina for copy editing
  • Third place: Alicia Rivera for column writing
  • Honorable mentions: Bryce Druzin for opinion piece; Sara Gobets for page layout, news photo and feature story; Andrew Puckett for page layout; Christopher Wu for sports action photo

Spring 2012 - Statewide Convention

The student newspaper picked up seven awards at the JACC convention held March 22-24 in Burbank. Nine journalism students and their adviser, Cecilia Deck, attended the conference. Winners include:

  • Bryce Druzin, first place for on-the-spot broadcast news writing, third place for copyediting
  • Sara Gobets, second place for feature photo
  • Michael Mannina, honorable mention for copyediting
  • Leila Forouhi, honorable mention for sport writing
  • Israel Gutierrez and Druzin, first place for front page layout
  • Galen Oback, third and honorable mention for editorial cartoons

Fall 2011 - NorCal Conference

Journalism students received three awards at the JACC Northern California conference in Sacramento on Nov. 12, competing with 220 students from 20 other colleges.

The live contest awards included:

  • Copy Editing – 2nd place, Michael Mannina
  • News Story – 3rd place, Bruce Druzin
  • News Story – Honorable Mention, Leila Forouhi

Judged on work from the 2010-2011 academic year, De Anza won in the following categories:

  • Online Newspaper – General Excellence
  • Front Page Layout – 1st place, Israel Gutierrez and Michael Mannina
  • Illustration – 2nd place and Honorable Mention, Galen Oback

Spring 2011 - Statewide Convention

De Anza journalism students brought home eight awards from the JACC competition, including General Excellence for La Voz Weekly. De Anza competed against approximately 50 community colleges.

  • General Excellence Newspaper – La Voz Weekly
  • Enterprise Story/Series – Refugio Garcia, Kelsey Lester-Perry, Armando Luna, Aliyah Mohammed and Laura Wenus
  • News Photo – 4th place, Justin Taylor
  • Web/Broadcast News – Honorable Mention La Voz Weekly Staff
  • Editorial Writing – Honorable Mention La Voz Weekly Editorial Board
  • News Judgment/Layout Broadsheet – 1st place, Israel Gutierrez
  • Copy Editing – 3rd place, Michael Mannina
  • Feature Story – 4th place, William Ferguson

Fall 2010 - NorCal Conference

17 delegates (students and staff) from attended the JACC NCal conference at San Jose State University. De Anza students brought home seven awards.

  • Online Journalism General Excellence – La Voz staff
  • 1st place Editorial Cartoon – Brandon Selph
  • 3rd place Illustration – Justin Taylor
  • 3rd place Bring-in Advertisement – Cy Hodgkins
  • Honorable Mention Editorial Cartoon – Ryan Brusuelias
  • Honorable Mention Writing – La Voz staff
  • Honorable Mention On-the-spot News Story – Nadia Banchik
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