The Inquirer won a General Excellence award for the print version at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges state convention in Burbank March 22-25. The awards were given for work done in the Fall 2011 semester.

“I’m really proud of the students,” said adviser Mary Mazzocco “I know Brian [Donovan] was especially stoked to win his first award at his first state convention.”

Staff writers and editors hauled in many individual awards as well. Mike Alfieri, Danielle Barcena, Lisa Diaz, John Kesler, Theresa Marie and Julius Rea all were recognized for their work mailed in from the Fall. Photography editor Mike Alfieriand Editor-in-Chief Brian Donovan also won awards for on-the-spot contests, in sports game photography and opinion writing, respectively.

Needless to say, staff member’s emotions were running high on everyone’s positive representation of The Inquirer.

“I’m extremely happy,” said opinions editor John Kesler, winner of the Critical Review award for his review of Coldplay’s “Mylo Xyloto.” “I found out about it talking to my teacher on facebook. As soon as she told me, I made sure to post it on mine as a status. It’s good that something great came out of a mediocre album.”

“It was a real surprise,” said Donovan of his opinion writing award. “I just kind of pieced it together on the spot and there was no time to copy-edit it [the opinion piece.]”

The keynote speech was given by Ruben Vives and Jeff Gottlieb, the Los Angeles Times reporters who broke the City of Bell salary scandal and won a Pulitzer.

The students reaction was positive: “It shows that there are some members of the mainstream media that are still concerned with breaking impactful stories,” said Donovan. “It’s a positive sign for student journalists.”

Adviser Mazzocco added “I really enjoyed the keynote speakers because the story of the Bell scandal places a strong emphasis on the power and influence that journalism still has on everyday life.”

This is the third consecutive semester that The Inquirer has one General Excellence in print journalism. As the focus shifts to online journalism, The Inquirer is looking to follow suit with a stronger emphasis on the website.

Stay tuned for more award winning journalism at www.theinquireronline.com!