The Journalism Association of Community Colleges held its SoCal Regional Conference at Fullerton College Saturday, Nov. 14.

Students from SoCal community colleges had the opportunity to apply what they learned in the newsroom and throughout journalism coursework in competitions and workshops.

The event began at 8 a.m. with registration and a keynote panel that took place at Wilshire Auditorium. The panel had South Bay’s Daily Breeze reporters Rebecca Kimitch, Rob Kuznia, and city editor, Frank Suraci. Students were able to get an understanding of professional news reporting from the panelists and were able to ask questions on different matters like acquiring information as journalists.

This year’s SoCal JACC only offered six on-the-spot contests, 14 workshops and was a one-day event as opposed to the usual two-day regional conference.

“I was really worried about how it might go today because our normal venue is under construction and so we were limited in what we could do this year especially with the changing of our staff, but I’m really happy with it,” Erin Hiro said, member of the SoCal Conference Planning Committee and professor at Palomar College. “I think because we had to start over, we were able to try new things and we were able to simplify it and do fewer things better.”

Student journalists had designated lab rooms to produce and submit their photos, news stories, opinion pieces, copy editing, and critical reviews, all subjected to the keynote panel.

Among the many workshops offered, a student favorite was the Editors’ Roundtable. Editors from the different community colleges shared their experiences in the newsrooms as both challenging and satisfying, and gave each other tips on being better editors.

“I think the Editors’ Roundtable taught me that we’re not alone in the issues that we deal with everyday that we kind of lose sleep over,” Talon Marks News Editor Karla Enriquez said. “There’s a lot of people dealing with the exact same things and there’s this sense of unity in that, and if other colleges can do it and put out quality work, then we can do it too.”

The award ceremony commenced at 6 p.m. at the Wilshire Auditorium where the winners of the on-the-spot contests were announced. The best work from the previous semester was also sent-in by editors to be awarded in this ceremony.

Loud cheers filled the auditorium as student winners were announced. The Hornet was among the many college newspapers that received awards and recognition.

The next JACC conference will take place next spring in Burbank.