Oak Leaf staff members bring home 28 awards from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges’ NorCal Conference

Hi Everyone,

Oak Leaf staff members brought home a whopping 28 awards from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges’ NorCal conference Saturday, Oct. 25 at San Jose State. They won more first-place awards than any other college, the most multimedia awards and had the second highest award count among Northern California community colleges.

The awards were for both website and magazine work published in the last academic year and from on-the-spot competitions at SJSU. Especially notable are the awards for photography, podcast and multimedia, awards that would not be possible without the CE equipment grants the Journalism Program has received over the past few years. 

The two first-place awards that brought tears to my eyes — as well as to several staff members’ — went to Noah McSweeney for opinion story and column writing. Noah is autistic and nonverbal; he uses a letter board and communication partner in class and painstakingly types his articles one letter at a time. His columns and story (Sensory Salvation, Behind Autism’s mask is a unique person longing to feel included, and “Mighty talking fingers to the rescue”) are so insightful that they should be must-reads for any instructors dealing with students on the spectrum. You can see his wins  for yourself in the videos at the link below.

See photos and videos here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qd0srW0EHGLGeSVM16DfPBjlrZiq2Jj3?usp=sharing

 Please feel free to call out and/or embarrass these award-winners in class.

JACC NorCal 2025 Awards

ON-THE-SPOT AWARDS

Feature Photo, 1^st: Zoë Steiner

News Writing, 2^nd: Rhea Bath

Feature Photo, 3^rd: Lauren Kelleher

Copyediting, 4^th: Lauren Kelleher

Opinion Writing, 4^th: Jesse Saal

PUBLICATION AWARDS

WRITING

Column Writing, 1^st: Noah McSweeny, Sensory Salvation and Behind Autism’s mask is a unique person longing to feel included  (Must-reads if you work with students on the autism spectrum)

Opinion Story, 1^st: Noah McSweeney, “Mighty talking fingers to the rescue”

Feature Story, 1^st: Debbie Van Dyke, Reinvention: How SRJC helps older students seek new directions

Critical Review, 2^nd: Natalie Emanuele, ‘Good Coffee, Great Coffee’: Is it that sweet? I’d say so!

Profile Feature Story, 3^rd: Marty Lees, Fighting for Recognition: How AI is helping a disabled veteran challenge the DoD’s denial

Profile Feature Story, 4^th: Yna Bollock, Getting To Third Base: One athlete’s perseverance through adversity

Enterprise News Story/Series, Meritorious: Amy Elisabeth Moore, Geneviève Duboscq, Max Underdown, Cristan Molinelli-Ruberto, Adair Alvarez Rodriguez, How will Santa Rosa Junior College protect its immigrant students under a second Trump presidency?;

SRJC student organizes “A Day Without Immigrants” protest, sees a wave of support in downtown Santa Rosa;

Immigrant students and staff face the prospect of ICE raids on SRJC campus; False information amid immigration concerns makes matters worse; 

and Hundreds march through downtown Santa Rosa protesting Trump administration’s ICE raids

PHOTO

Sports Action Photo, 1^st: Yna Bollock, SRJC baseball takes first game of super regionals in 9-0 blowout  (cover photo of gallery at bottom of page)

Online Photo Story/Essay, 1^st: Rosemary Cromwell, Nathan Kaito Morris and Nicholas Vides, Views from Bottlerock 2025

Online Photo Story/Essay, 2^nd: Adair Rodriguez, SRJC student organizes “A Day Without Immigrants” protest, sees a wave of support in downtown Santa Rosa

Sports Feature Photo, 2^nd: Yna Bollock

Sports Feature Photo, 3^rd: Nathan Kaito Morris

News Photo, 3^rd: Adair Rodriguez, SRJC student organizes “A Day Without Immigrants” protest, sees a wave of support in downtown Santa Rosa (third photo down)

Feature Photo, 3^rd: Adair Rodriguez

Environmental Portrait, 4^th: Yna Bollock, Getting to third base: One athlete’s perseverance through adversity (top photo)

Feature Photo, Honorable Mention: Views from Bottlerock 2025 (Benson Boone photo)

News Photo, honorable mention: Adiar Rodriguez, SRJC student organizes “A Day Without Immigrants” protest, sees a wave of support in downtown Santa Rosa(15^th photo in gallery)

MULTIMEDIA

Multimedia Journalism Package, Meritorious: Lauren Kelleher and Geneviève Duboscq, Food insecurity in Sonoma County: Hunger and action in the land of plenty

Multimedia Journalism Package, Meritorious: Henry Fliflet and Criastan Molinelli-Ruberto, Wine in America: Are the kids drinking enough?  (Story copied by Press Democrat a month later)

Podcast/Audio News, 1^st, 

DESIGN

Informational graphic, 1^st: Lauren Kelleher, Food insecurity in Sonoma County: Hunger and action in the land of plenty  (grocery prices)

Photo Illustration, 2^nd: Nathan Kaito Morris, This life hack could pay for your college tuition (top photo illustration)

Inside page layout, 4^th: Nathan Kaito Morris and Lauren Kelleher, Oak Leaf Magazine, Spring 2025 (I lost my drag virginity)

Anne Belden

Journalism Faculty / Oak Leaf Adviser