March 27, 2025
The Corsair, SMC Journalism Students Earn 50 National, Regional and Statewide Awards & Honors
The Corsair, SMC Journalism Students Earn 50 National, Regional and Statewide Awards & Honors
Includes photo editor Jake Crandall being named PPAGLA “Student Still Photojournalist of the Year”, plus wins announced at 2025 National College Media Conference
SANTA MONICA, CA—Santa Monica College’s (SMC) student-run media outlet The Corsair (opens in new window) and its staff won 22 state awards this month from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) (opens in new window) , plus 10 honors from the Associated Collegiate Press (opens in new window) (ACP)and 15 awards from the California College Media Association (CCMA), including several first-place awards. The awards were announced at the 2025 National College Media Conference held March 6-8 in Long Beach.
This week, Corsair photojournalist Gregory L. Hawthorne was also announced as the JACC student president for 2025, representing journalism students across the state. Hawthorne has won multiple photojournalism awards from JACC.
Additionally, on March 22, the Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles (opens in new window) honored Fall 2024/Spring 2025 Corsair photo editor Jake Crandall as “Student Still Photojournalist of the Year” and honored former Corsair photo editor Danilo Perez as runner-up. Crandall received a $1,500 check and a Nikon Z6 III and a 20-120 mm f4 lens from the Nikon-sponsored contest. Perez received a $1,000 check and glowing reviews from the professional judges. Crandall and Perez join the ranks of SMC Corsair photographers who have dominated this competition since 2005.
![An image from Gregory L Hawthorne’s JACC On-the-Spot Award winning photo. Seph Peters, a Journalism major at El Camino, attended the 2025 National College Media Conference in Long Beach, CA on March 7, 2025 and discussed how Black women, [C]onstantly show up and show out for others, but when the tables flip no one is there for us.” (Photo Credit: Gregory L. Hawthorne | The Corsair)](/news/2025/images/C-Black-female-voter-portrait.jpg)
“Photojournalism allows me to get as close as you possibly can to history,” said Crandall, a journalism major who hopes to transfer to UCLA or Cal State Long Beach. He moonlights as a video news intern and a photojournalist’s assistant. “I like going where the action is,” he said. “I never wanted a normal life.”
The Corsair advising team includes journalism instructor Sharyn Obsatz , photojournalism instructor Gerard Burkhart, and social media journalism instructor Samantha Nuñez. The Corsair staff produces a newspaper in the spring and fall semesters, currently available on issuu.com/corsair.website (opens in new window) , and publishes news content online at thecorsaironline.com (opens in new window) . Follow The Corsair on Instagram @corsairnews (opens in new window) .
“The Corsair students put their hearts and souls into the news coverage they produce for our community. It is always so beautiful to see their hard work recognized,” Obsatz said. “The Corsair newsroom is a family, with many other editors and staff working behind the scenes as well.”
SMC students won the following awards:
From the California College Media Association:
- First Place: Best Photo Series (Caylo Seals, Danilo Perez, Jake Crandall, Alexy Nosov, Luca Martinez, Alejandro Contreras); Best Multimedia Package (Corsair Staff); Best Special Issue (“Divided Campuses”, Corsair Staff); Best News Series ( Cebelihle Hlatshwayo, Taylor Parise, Renee Bartlett Webber, Jake Crandall, Karuna Namala).
- Second place: Best Podcast (Jenna Tibby); Best Sports Photograph (Rebecca Villagracia); Best Newspaper Column (Jeffrey Berrios); Best Editorial (Jeremy Wolf).
- Third Place: Best Social Media Reporting (Jeffrey Berrios); Best Illustration (Jenna Tibby);
Best Headline Portfolio (Phoebe Huss); Best Overall Newspaper Design (Corsair Staff); Best Photo Illustration (Jake Crandall);
Best Feature Story (Sara Mendez); Best News Story (Phoebe Huss).
An image from Jake Crandall’s winning portfolio for the Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at her final presidential campaign rally at the Philadelphia Art Museum in Philadelphia, PA, on Nov. 4, 2024, to a crowd of 30,000 attendees. (Photo Credit: Jake Crandall | The Corsair)
From the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC):
On-the-spot awards won for competitions held during the conference included the Pacesetter, the top award for excellence given by the JACC:
- First Place: Video News, Jenna Tibby; Sports Photo, Christopher Schroeder;
- Third Place: Creative Portrait, Gregory L. Hawthorne;
- Fourth Place: Creative Portrait, Akemi Rico;
- Honorable mention: Sports Writing, Adriana Brady;
- Pacesetter: Digital, Santa Monica College Corsair.
The Corsair won 16 awards in the mail-in JACC competition, announced March 8:
- First Place: Inside Page Layout (Mary Funsten and Alexander Albao); Podcast/Audio News (Jenna Tibby); News Photo (Gregory L. Hawthorne); Photo Story Essay (Jake Crandall, Lex Lopez and Rebecca Villagracia);
- Second Place: Online Photo Story/Essay (Jake Crandall); Video Hard News Reporting (Jenna Tibby); News Photo (Jake Crandall);
- Third Place: Informational Graphic (Ava Cyr); News Story (Renee Bartlett-Webber);
- Fourth Place: Environmental Portrait (Rebecca Villagracia);
- Meritorious: Online General Excellence (The Corsair Staff); Multimedia Journalism Package (2 wins, The Corsair Staff)
- Honorable Mention: Feature Story, non-profile (Jenna Tibby); Feature Photo (Jake Crandall); Photo Story-Essay
(Rebecca Villagracia).
Spring 2025 Corsair staff members pose with dozens of journalism awards won by their Santa Monica College student newsroom at the 2025 National College Media Conference in Long Beach on Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Photo Credit: Gerard Burkhart)
From the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) Clips and Clicks Contest:
- First place: Newspaper/Newsmagazine Front Page Design, The Corsair Staff; News Photo, Jake Crandall; Sports Photo, Rebecca Villagracia;
- Second place: Newspaper/Newsmagazine Page/Spread Design, Alexander Albao; News Photo, Jake Crandall;
- Third Place: Sports Photo, Rebecca Villagracia;
- Honorable Mention: News Photo, Caylo Seals; Opinion Writing, Jeffrey Berrios.
The Corsair’s news website was one of four community colleges nationwide chosen as finalists in the online category for the highest ACP award, the Pacemaker. The ACP considers this award to be the Pulitzer Prize of college publications. The Corsair also won 5th place in the ACP’s Best of Show online newspaper category, competing against dozens of two-year colleges nationwide at the convention.
Santa Monica College’s journalism program offers career training in reporting and nonfiction storytelling across multiple platforms: print, photography, video, audio, social media, and digital media production. Students are prepared for roles including reporter, correspondent, editor, copywriter, audience engagement editor, social media content creator and broadcast producer. Those interested in joining The Corsair for the Fall 2025 semester can sign up for Journalism 16: Producing the Campus Newspaper; Journalism 22/Photo 14: Photography for Publication or Journalism 7/Media 25: Engaging Audiences for Journalism and Social Media. More information is available at smc.edu/journalism (opens in new window) .
Santa Monica College is a California Community College accredited by the Acccrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).
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