Judges at the NorCal Conference of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges reviewed student-produced newspapers from last semester and the Rampage received a few awards for its quality.
Ten Rampage reporters gathered on Nov. 6, 2010, at 5:00 A.M. to make the journey to San Jose State University for the conference.
The students attended workshops to learn more about the journalism trade, including insights into the use of multimedia and the management of an online news site.
The newspaper itself won in the General Excellence category, meaning that it did well in the way of content, design, layout and in meeting the needs of the Fresno City College community. The Rampage Staff won first place for Enterprise reporting, or in-depth stories, and for its coverage of the Brad Lopez controversy.
A few students were singled out for their good work in the Rampage. Sydney Excinia, the present news editor, won first place in feature writing for her story Beyond the Veils, which had also placed third at the state conference. Emilio Guttierrez placed second in news reporting for his coverage of the citation of our eateries on campus. He also won an honorable mention for his coverage of the damage that had been done to the track fields in Ratcliffe Stadium. Ramiro Gudino received an honorable mention for a student-designed advertisement and Will Christensen attained an honorable mention for his review of the movie The Last Song.
It affirms that our students are doing the right things, Dr. Dympna Ugwu-Oju, journalism instructor and Rampage adviser, said about the awards the reporters received. Theyre learning the right things, theyre making good choices in terms of the stories they write or in terms of their choice of stories, and it just makes you feel that youre doing all the right things.
Sydney Excinia said she was astonished to find that she had won. She expects that some positive change will occur in the Rampage because of the conference. Hopefully it will encourage more students to submit articles and want to take place in the JACC, she said.
Ramiro Gudino shared a similar view. Basically, it gives them [Rampage reporters] a little bit of incentive because it shows a little more competition. Its not just assignments; its seeing how you stack up against other people.
Dr. Ugwu-Oju said she has high hopes for the Rampage reporters who attended this conference. Im expecting that they apply what they learned in not only the publication of the Rampage but also in their practice of journalism . . . and also that they apply the new knowledge, the new technological knowledge in particular, in the online papers.
