October 22, 2025

The Corsair, SMC Journalism Students Earn 45 National & Regional Awards

A cover from The Corsair, Santa Monica College’s student-run media outlet, which won Best Newspaper/News Magazine from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP). The ACP honored The Corsair with its Pacemaker Award, one of just five student newspaper winners in California, along with UCLA, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Los Positas College and Southwestern College. Photo courtesy of The Corsair.
A cover from The Corsair, Santa Monica College’s student-run media outlet, which won Best Newspaper/News Magazine from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP). The ACP honored The Corsair with its Pacemaker Award, one of just five student newspaper winners in California, along with UCLA, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Los Positas College and Southwestern College. Photo courtesy of The Corsair.

The Corsair, SMC Journalism Students Earn 45 National & Regional Awards

Includes Top Pacemaker & Pinnacle Wins Among U.S. Student Newsrooms

SANTA MONICA, CA—Santa Monica College’s (SMC) student-run media outlet The Corsairand its staff won 21 state awards this month from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC), plus six honors from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and 18 awards from the College Media Association (CMA), including several first-place awards. The awards were announced at the JACC SoCal Conference held at Cal State Northridge on Oct. 11 and at MediaFest25 held Oct. 15-18 in Washington, D.C.

The ACP honored The Corsair with its top Pacemaker award for student newspapers/news magazines, one of just five student newspapers from California, along with UCLA, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Los Positas College and Southwestern College.

“The prestigious Pacemaker recognizes overall excellence and distinguishes the top student media produced during a particular school year. The award started shortly after the association was founded in 1921 and is often regarded as the most-competitive, most-honored award in collegiate journalism,” according to the ACP announcement. Out of 90 colleges and universities competing, only 17 were honored as Pacemakers nationally.

A cover from The Corsair, Santa Monica College’s student-run media outlet, which won Best Newspaper/News Magazine from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP). The ACP honored The Corsair with its Pacemaker Award, one of just five student newspaper winners in California, along with UCLA, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Los Positas College and Southwestern College. Photo courtesy of The Corsair.
A cover from The Corsair, Santa Monica College’s student-run media outlet, which won Best Newspaper/News Magazine from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP). The ACP honored The Corsair with its Pacemaker Award, one of just five student newspaper winners in California, along with UCLA, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Los Positas College and Southwestern College. Photo courtesy of The Corsair.

The Corsair also won a first place Pinnacle award for Best Periodic Newspaper among community colleges nationally from the CMA.

The Pinnacle Awards are “CMA’s flagship national honors, recognizing the best student work in collegiate journalism, media production and organizational excellence,” per a statement on the CMA website.

SMC students won several awards for multimedia coverage. Jeffrey Berrios, Rafael Lopez, and Jared Blair won second place for Campus Media Engagement from the CMA, competing against two-year colleges and small four-year colleges nationally. Their “Corsair Corner” Instagram reels introduce the people behind the bylines.

“I looked through our Instagram, and I thought people would care more about the stories if they knew more about the people behind them,” Berrios said. He commutes three hours by bus fromNorthridge to SMC, graduates this coming Spring semester, and hopes to transfer to USC.

Lopez, who lives in Koreatown, said he enjoys editing the videos to add humor and “bring out the charm.” He plans to pursue a video editing career. Both first-generation college students, Berrios and Lopez said their mothers are proud of their videos and awards.

Blair will graduate from SMC in December with high honors and transfer to the Walter Cronkite School at Arizona State University—he wants to be a TV news anchor. As multimedia editor when the project started, Blair said, “It’s great to be recognized for our work to uplift the Corsair staff and the student body at large through multimedia.”

A photo taken by Jake Crandall of Department of Homeland Security Officers pepper-spraying him and other protestors during a protest at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on July 6, 2025 in response to ICE raids across LA. The Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) awarded Crandall of The Corsair first place in the Online Photo Story/Essay category. (Photo Credit: Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
Department of Homeland Security Officers pepper-spraying Jake Crandall and other protestors during a protest at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on July 6, 2025 in response to ICE raids across LA. The JACC awarded Crandall first place in the Online Photo Story/Essay category. (Photo Credit: Jake Crandall / The Corsair)

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, and publishes news content online at thecorsaironline.com. Follow The Corsair on Instagram @corsairnews.

“I am proud of what this newsroom has accomplished—not just in terms of the recognition, but in the integrity and discipline behind the work,” Nuñez said. “These students have put in long hours, tackled difficult stories, and stayed committed to doing the work the right way. These awards are well-earned, but the true achievement is in the growth these students have achieved in their careers as journalists.”

Following is the complete list of awards won by The Corsair and its staff:

From the College Media Association:

  • First Place: Periodic Newspaper of the Year (The Corsair Staff); Short Documentary (Jenna Tibby); Breaking News Story print/web (Phoebe Huss); News Photo Package (Jake Crandall); Breaking News Multimedia Coverage (The Corsair Staff); News Multimedia Package (The Corsair Staff); Sports Photo (A.S.); Feature Photo Package (The Corsair Staff).
  • Second place: General News Photo (Gregg Hawthorne); Campus Media Engagement (Jeffrey Berrios, Jared Blair, Rafael Lopez); Breaking News Photo (Jake Crandall); Sports Game Story print/web (Kayjel Mairena).
  • Third Place: Breaking News Package audio/video (Tarelle Butts).
  • Honorable Mention: Newspaper Front Page (Mary Funsten, Akemi Rico); Photo Illustration (Jake Crandall); General News Story (Phoebe Huss, Jake Crandall); General News Package audio/video (Jenna Tibby); Feature Photo (A.S.).

From the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC):

  • First Place: Photo Story-Essay (Jake Crandall, Lex Lopez); On-the-Spot Copy Editing (Sofia Kieser) Online Photo Story/Essay (Jake Crandall); Video Hard News Reporting (Jenna Tibby); News Photo, (Jake Crandall).
  •  Second Place: Sports Feature Photo (Rebecca Villagracia); Online Photo Story/Essay (Eduardo Peralta, Nathan Hanson, Danny Sanchez); News Photo (Jake Crandall); Environmental Portrait (Mary Funsten).
  • Third Place: On-the-Spot Copy Editing (Jacqueline Martin); On-the-Spot Feature Photo (Nathan Hanson); Photo Illustration (Mary Funsten); Video Hard News Reporting (Tarelle Butts); Feature Photo (Gregory Hawthorne); Opinion Story (Kayjel J. Mairena).
  • Fourth Place: Photo Story-Essay (Rebecca Villagracia).
  • Honorable Mention: On-the-Spot Opinion Writing (Christine Xolotl Muñoz); Sports Action Photo (Rebecca Villagracia); Illustration (Jenna Tibby); Feature Photo (Jake Crandall).
  • Meritorious: Enterprise News Story/Series (Phoebe Huss).                            

From the Associated Collegiate Press: 

  • Pacemaker: Best Newspaper/News Magazine (The Corsair Staff).
  • Second Place: News/Breaking News Photo (Jake Crandall).
  • Third Place: Podcast (Jenna Tibby).
  • Honorable Mention: Feature Photo (AJ Barber); Photo Slideshow (Jake Crandall); Environmental Portrait (Mary Funsten).
A photo story-essay by Jake Crandall and Lex Lopez covering the last days of VP Kamala Harris’s campaign won a first-place award from the JACC. Photo Courtesy of The Corsair.
A photo story-essay by Jake Crandall and Lex Lopez covering the last days of VP Kamala Harris’s campaign won a first-place award from the JACC. Photo Courtesy of The Corsair.

For Fall 2024, The Corsair was led by Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Wolf and Managing Editor Sophia DiDio, who graduated and transferred to Cal Poly Humboldt. For Spring 2025, it was led by Editor-in-Chief Adriana Brady and Managing Editor Jenna Tibby.  Brady graduated and transferred to USC, while Tibby is now the Corsair’s multimedia co-editor. This semester’s leaders are Editor-in-Chief Katie Easterson and Managing Editor Mollie Bishop.

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.

Santa Monica College is a California Community College accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).

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