by: Richard Craig, School of Journalism and Mass Communications

You’ll be proud to know that the editorial and ad staffs of the Spartan Daily collected nine statewide awards at tonight’s California College Media Association Awards banquet at Cal State Fullerton.

Daily photographer Vernon McKnight won two awards, winning first place honors for Best Features Photo and second place for Best Sports Photo. Lyell Marks took first place for Best Non-Breaking News Story. Leo Postovoit oversaw the Daily entry that took second place for Best Overall Design, and Francisco Rendon took third place for Best Editorial. Chris Marian won a third place for Best Personal Opinion Column, and Brian O’Malley took third place for Best News Photo.

Ad student Vrginia Ochi took a pair of third place awards, for Best Online Ad and Best Color Ad. In addition, our alumnus Steve Lopez won CCMA’s Leland Yee award as a champion of First Amendment rights.

It’s important to remember that these awards have all been won in spite of the competitive disadvantages that the Daily faces. As members of CCMA’s Division A, we compete with college news organizations with far bigger budgets and huge staffs. Some of our competitors have more than 100 students on staff each semester, while the Daily usually has somewhere between 20 and 30 students. It’s remarkable that the Daily staff continues to stack up so well against the big boys.

Please join me in congratulating the winners.