WOODLAND HILLS : Pierce Wins 31 State Journalism Awards

Pierce College’s journalism program won 31 awards in a recent state competition, school officials said. It was the 22nd consecutive year the school brought in the most awards in that competition.

The school competed against other community colleges in California and Arizona. Contra Costa College in San Pablo came in second with 25 awards.

Winners were named during the Journalism Assn. of Community Colleges’ annual convention at Cal State Fresno. More than 500 students and faculty from 50 colleges attended.

“As faculty, we’re pleased that our students’ rigorous training has continued for so long to pay off,” said Rob O’Neil, a journalism teacher at Pierce College.

Among the award winners were three British journalism students who spent the past semester at Pierce College. David Hirst took third place in on-the-spot editorial writing, while Rebecca Lipcsei came in fourth in the critical review category. Beryl Muscroft won an honorable mention for on-the-spot copy editing.

The Roundup, Pierce College’s weekly newspaper, took third place for general excellence. The staff received an honorable mention for page layout.

In other on-the-spot awards, Matthew Carey of Tarzana won first place in page design. Milton Repreza of Sun Valley shared a first-place prize for a team feature photo with Tsz Kin Lee of Chatsworth. Aaron Meier of Canoga Park won second place in sportswriting as well as an award for computer copy editing.

Carrie Gaston of Reseda won an on-the-spot award for a bring-in infographic. Todd Handelsman of West Hills won an award for critical review, while Heather Ross of Arleta and Michelle Bruell of Canoga Park won awards for feature writing. Alan Hendry of Saugus won an award for sportswriting.

Alex Christensen of Reseda won an on-the-spot award for a team feature story and Eric Kim of Granada Hills won an award for a bring-in photograph.