LAVC Student Journalists Recognized with JACC General Excellence Awards

LAVC student journalist with their faculty advisors show their 2025 JACC awards. (From left to right: Professor Brian Paumier, Gabriela Martinez, Rosemary Villalonga, Daimler Koch, Professor William Dauber, Kaia Mann, Brian Griffin, Hermes Padilla.)

The Valley Star staff returned from the 2025 Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) conference as one of the most decorated journalism/photojournalism programs in Southern California.

On Saturday, October 11, LAVC students traveled to CSUN to compete against 19 other community colleges, including Santa Monica, Pasadena, Citrus, Southwestern, Pierce. The conference celebrates excellence in collegiate reporting, photography, design, newspaper production, and magazine production. The publications were judged by professionals in the industry.

This year, Valley earned two of the highest honors at the competition-General Excellence for both our newspaper and magazine. Only three of the 19 colleges earned this distinction.

Crown Magazine

• Magazine - General Excellence Award

Valley Star Newspaper

• Newspaper - General Excellence Award

Anita Bo

• Environmental Portrait - 1^st Place

Alex Diaz

• Column Writing - 1^st Place

Alex Diaz, Taylor Cowhey & Astrid Cortez

• Magazine Photo Story: Essay - 1^st Place

Alejandro Garcia

• Sports Feature Photo - 3^rd Place

Holdenn Graff

• Sports Game Story - Honorable Mention

Daimler Koch

• Column Writing - 2^nd Place
• Editorial - 3^rd Place
• News Writing (On-the-Spot) - Honorable Mention

Kaia Mann

• Front Page Layout (broadsheet/tabloid) - 3^rd Place
• Critical Review - Honorable Mention

Kaia Mann, Astrid Cortez, Milan Rafaelov, Jeremy Ruiz & Crown Staff

• Magazine Design/Layout - 4^th Place

Kaia Mann & Milan Rafaelov

• Magazine News Feature (non-profile) - 2^nd Place
• Inside Page Layout (broadsheet/tabloid) - 3^rd Place

Elmira Muradkhanyan

• Opinion Story - Honorable Mention

Hermes Padilla

• News Writing (On-the-Spot) - Honorable Mention

Milan Rafaelov

• Opinion Story - Honorable Mention

Milan Rafaelov & Astrid Cortez

• Magazine Profile Article - 2^nd Place
• Magazine Profile Article - 3^rd Place

Victoria Saxxon

• News Photo - 3^rd Place

These honors highlight the exceptional teamwork, creativity, and journalistic integrity of our students across The Valley Star and Crown. Their work reflects Valley's mission to develop critical thinking, collaboration, and professional readiness through hands-on learning in the Media Arts.

These results place Valley firmly among the top journalism programs in the state, recognized for comprehensive excellence in both publication and performance categories.