Moorpark College’s Student Voice came home with four statewide awards after attending the annual Journalism Association of Community Colleges annual conference and competition in Sacramento April 9-11.

The conference included journalistic competitions and professional workshops from Thursday afternoon to Saturday evening, with 480 students representing 37 community colleges.

Brian Varela, the editor-in-chief of the Student Voice, won an honorable mention award in News Judgment/ Layout-Broadsheet. In this competition students either designed the front page of a broadsheet or a tabloid sheet.

“I was surprised and excited when they called out my name,” said Varela.

Alan Ruiz, staff writer for Student Voice, won 2nd place in the Editorial Cartoon competition. In this event the students drew a cartoon that best captured and interpreted what the speaker Thomas Dodson, CEO of Above the Fray, a company that helps parents become aware of the damages their children’s online presence is causing, discussed during the presentation in under an hour.

Ruiz said he was shocked that he won because he didn’t expect to win in this competition. Ruiz sketched as a young child, but had quit drawing for a little bit in his life and only recently came back to it.

“I always liked drawing growing up,” said Ruiz. “I have my own drawing style.”

Staff writers Nikolas Samuels and Melody Forsell both teamed up to win one out of five meritorious award in Video Journalism. This competition sent students to Sacramento State University to produce a newsworthy video project.

The hardest part for Samuels was finding a story and editing the story he wanted to tell, he said

“I worked very hard on the video, so I expected them to announce my name because I knew I was one of the best,” said Samuels.

Varela praised the Student Voice staff for their work. He said that everyone who came to the conference went home winners.

“There really aren’t any losers,” said Varela. “We all tried hard and the fact that they came up here to try is what is more important. I’m sure they learned something that they will take back to the Student Voice.”

Moorpark College sent 10 students to the conference. In addition to the three winners, senior copy editor Chase Oliver, news editor Agustin Garcia, staff writers Frank Ralph, Hope Leonard and Paige Norling and contributing writer Whitney Levine attended the conference.