During the annual Washington Community College Journalism Awards The Pioneer took first place in the General Excellence category amongst other awards

The Pioneer took first place in General Excellence last Saturday in a statewide competition between community college student publications.

The Pioneer’s website, launched last fall, also took second place for Best Website Content.

“I’m so glad for the staff that they got some recognition for all of their hard work,” said Pioneer adviser Michael Parks.

“The heat they have taken this year for spelling errors and typos has been justified, but it tends to overshadow all the hard work that goes into producing a publication, every two weeks, on deadline, with strong, student oriented content,” Parks added.

“I’m so proud of our team,” Krizia Chimal said.

Oren Campbell, a retired UW journalism professor and adviser to The Daily, coordinates the contest for the Washington Community College Journalism Association.

Campbell recruits fellow members of the Society of Professional Journalists to volunteer as judges.

“It’s exciting for the students to know they are being evaluated by professionals,” Parks said.

“The feedback they get on their entry forms is invaluable,” Parks added.

In addition to the newspaper, Parks said he was especially pleased with the strong showing for the website.

“We have been struggling with a website for years, but a strong team of talented students put it all together this year and got if off the ground,” Parks said.

“We are especially lucky to have a close relationship with and strong support  from the Digital Design program, led by Brian Martin,” Parks added.

The Pioneer staff also received a first-place in headline writing and a second place for editorials. Individual winners were:

• Kristen Larkin, third place, general news reporting;

• Melissa Elrod, third place, editorial cartoons;

• Eileen Quackenbush, third place, personality profiles;

• Quackenbush and Sarah Clifton, third place, best multimedia story telling;

• Daniel Conrad, honorable mention for page design.

According to the WCCJA criteria sheet, The General Excellence award is based on “a combination of strong, concise writing; effective images; powerful design; editorial leader- ship; theme; consistency; flow; community reflec- tion and connection; and overall synergy.”

Nine colleges entered the contest with 360 submissions.

The awards luncheon was held at Bellevue College; Pierce College will host the event next year.