De Anza made the annual  trek to the the Journalism Association of Community Colleges 56th state convention was held in Sacramento on April 7-9 at the Double Tree Hotel. In attendance were La Voz Weekly members: editor in chief Michael Mannina,  features editor William Ferguson, deputy editor Aliyah Mohammed, staff writer Racquel Thompson, photography editor Nick Gonzales, freelancer Nadia Banchik, production manager and design editor Israel Gutierrez and journalism professor Cecilia Deck.

JACC offers four annual conventions and conferences for students and faculty to challenge and teach aspects of journalism and media through sets of workshops, on-the-spot competitions and mail-in competitions. 

Journalism students from community college newspapers around the state are given the opportunity to mail in, prior to the convention, samples of past issues to be evaluated and awarded. De Anza, along with winning prizes in on-the spot contests, also brought home numerous mail-in awards, including General Excellence for La Voz Weekly.

Representing De Anza College, Mannina placed third in the copy editing on-the-spot competition beating out other colleges in their knowledge of current events and AP style. 

Ferguson placed for De Anza in the feature story on-the-spot competition, which involved taking a tour through the Sacramento History Museum. Taking fourth in this competition Ferguson beat out approximately 100 other participants. 

Israel Gutierrez proved his skills in design layout by placing first in the broadsheet news judgement and layout on-the-spot competition.

In addition to the competitions, students also participated in workshops led by industry professionals from newspapers including the Sacramento Bee, SF Weekly, Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News and the Oakland Tribune. “Making your game story sing” taught by Marcus Thompson, a Golden State Warriors beat writer for the Bay Area News Group, was one of the workshops staff writer Racquel Thompson attended. 

Gonzalez, Ferguson and Gutierrez participated in the team features competition by visiting Sacramento State University and documenting an instrumental jazz group as they prepared for a performance. The team compiled a multimedia slideshow with slides, music and interviews. 

“I can definitely use what I learned there and apply it with what I do here at La Voz,” said Thompson.

JACC is a non-profit organization created and dedicated for the growth and education of community college journalism in California.