PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2011
CONTACT: Erin Hiro, Telescope Adviser, 760-744-1150 ext. 3762
SACRAMENTO ---- The Telescope, Palomar College’s award-winning student
newspaper, earned 13 statewide awards in photography, news writing, sports writing,
design, video journalism, critical review and others at the annual state convention of the
nonprofit Journalism Association of Community Colleges.
For the second year in a row, The Telescope received a state General Excellence Award
for its campus newspaper, which is published 22 times per year. The Telescope staff also
received first place for design, beating out about 50 other community colleges across the
state.
Earlier this month, 13 student members of The Telescope staff traveled to Sacramento to
compete against 600 community college journalism students in on-the-spot journalism
competitions. The staff members were asked to report, photograph and write on deadline
against the best community college journalists across the state.
The Telescope’s staff earned three awards in on-the-spot competitions. Editor-in-Chief
David Leonard won first place in news writing.
"The conference was an amazing opportunity to learn and compete with the best
journalism students in the state,” Leonard said. “I was thoroughly impressed by how well
my staff performed under pressure, and honored to receive a nod from the judges for my
hard work in news writing. We fought for our awards, and I'm proud of everyone's
efforts."
Photographer Kiigan Snaer won first place in feature photo for a shot of a musician she
took at CSU Sacramento. (See attached photo.) Sports editor Matt Slagle won third place
for covering a baseball game despite limited player access and freezing temperatures.
Before The Telescope staff attended the conference, they put together their best articles,
photographs and design and sent them in to be judged by media professionals from across
the state.
From those entries, the newspaper won nine awards, including General Excellence. The
newspaper and former editor Kelley Foyt, won first place for front-page layout and
design. Foyt won another first place for writing a critical review while former editor Eric
Walker won third place in that same category.
Walker also won two honorable mentions for editorial cartoons he created last fall.
Meanwhile two current editors received honorable mentions. News editor Mark Saunders
earned an award for his profile feature story and Arts and Entertainment Editor Belinda
Callin won for her inside page layout.
Callin also received an honorable mention for a video project she completed with staff
members Casey Byrne and Daniel Martin that can be found at www.the-telescope.com
Former sports writer Christian Fortmueller earned an honorable mention for his sports
story as well.
JACC is a non-profit educational corporation dedicated to community college journalism
in California. An elected board of directors, who represent both students and faculty from
around the state, runs it. For more information on JACC, visit its Web site at
www.jacconline.org.
For more information on The Telescope, visit www.The-Telescope.com or call (760)
891-7865 or email telescope@palomar.edu.
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