JACC sponsors three Publications Awards contests and three On-the-Spot competitions each year and other Special Awards listed below. The Publications and On-the-Spot awards are associated with the NorCal and SoCal regional conferences in the fall and the State Convention in the spring.
Looking for a specific year or conference’s award list? We archive these under the Blog/News tab at the top of the home page. These are also searchable from any JACC page by using the search category feature on the upper right corner to look for a particular year or event.
PUBLICATIONS/ON-THE-SPOT AWARDS
The Publications Awards honor work completed in student publications throughout the year. Entry eligibility for regional conference competitions are the previous school year and for the state convention the previous calendar year. Entries are accepted only from member schools and the following two-year rule applies to individuals who have won awards in previous years.
The on-the-spot awards are presented in honor of outstanding work completed during the conferences/convention and include both work completed under deadline circumstances those weekends and “bring-in” work completed for competition weeks before the conference/convention.
Two-Year Rule
Students may compete in JACC contests as many times as they want while they are students at JACC member schools. For example, if you won a first-through-fourth place or meritorious/unranked mail-in or on-the-spot/bring-in award during or before 2020 Regional Conference you CANNOT compete in mail-in or on-the-spot/bring-in as part of the 2022 Regional or later conference in the same class of contests. Classes of contests, as opposed to categories, include Writing/Editing, Graphic Design, Photography and Multimedia. Students may continue to complete in other classes of contests. The rule applies to all competitions (i.e., both Publications contests and On-the-Spot contests, regardless of which competition the student won the award.)
The ineligibility applies to the student, even if the student changes member schools. Colleges are required to police their own entries.
Here are relevant links to Publications and On-the-Spot awards rules. For specific competitions search for that event.
SPECIAL AWARDS
JACC Scholarships
JACC honors promising students each year in its scholarship program.
Volunteer of the Year Award
JACC depends on volunteers to conduct many of the activities of the organization. An outstanding volunteer of the year is honored.
Distinguished Service Award
Each year JACC presents a Distinguished Service to Journalism Education Award to someone outside of the organization who has contributed significantly to community college journalism education and the organization. Annual scholarships are awarded in the name of the honoree.
First Amendment Awards
Friendly administrators who understand and support First Amendment efforts by student publications are rare and highly appreciated. In 2006, JACC decided to start recognizing those administrators who stand out.
Pacesetter Awards
The Pacesetter Award is a sweepstakes award to honor the top four schools in mail-in and on-the-spot competition at the annual convention.
Editor Recognition Awards
JACC salutes the efforts of the lead editors for the student publications around the state each semester with a special Editors Recognition/Honor Roll award.
Outstanding Instructor Awards
Each year the California Journalism Education Coalition, which represents JACC and other organizations interested and involved in California journalism education, honors outstanding high school, community college and university journalism instructors.
Last updated: August 2020