03/11/2025
LPC STUDENTS COLLECT A WHOPPING 34 AWARDS AT ANNUAL STUDENT MEDIA CONFERENCES
All three Journalism and Media Studies Department publications — The Express, Naked and Havik — shined among the best college media in America
LONG BEACH — It was a banner weekend for the students of the Journalism and Media Studies (JAMS) Department. It may have been one of the most impressive showings in the program’s history. Las Positas students compiled 34 awards at the nationwide Associated College Press (ACP) convention and the statewide Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) convention, held concurrently at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach this past weekend.
All three JAMS publications earned major awards. The Havik Dynasty continued at ACP. Meanwhile, The Express newspaper and Naked magazine stunned with landmark placements in both conventions, including first-place finishes for Olivia Fitts, Ian Kapsalis and Rain Hepting.
“My unspoken goal for the conference was for the students to out-perform last year’s stellar showing,” said JAMS faculty head Melissa Korber, adviser to the three publications. “Their success went beyond my wildest expectations. Each award represents hours of focus, of teamwork and of growth. Each award is fully earned — especially in light of the level of competition from around the country.”
Havik, the student-run literary magazine at Las Positas, was once again stamped as the best in America. Its afternoon began with Kaitlyn White’s surprising accolade. White, an editor of the coming 2025 edition, won 10th place in Advertisement for her design promoting Havik.
That was the appetizer.
Not long after, Havik was announced as “Best in Show” for literary arts magazines from two-year and four-year schools. It’s the fourth consecutive year Havik has been stamped best in the nation. Havik 2024: Exomorphosis also won the People’s Choice Award for Literary Arts Magazine, voted on by fellow student media.
"It feels beyond incredible, almost indescribable,” said Aaliyah Gholamipour, editor-in-chief of Exomorphosis, who also took home first place for best digital newsletter at ACP. “I'll admit to a serious bout with nervousness and, for some reason, doubt crept in that we could actually win four in a row. But not only did we keep our streak, we got People's Choice again, too. Havik continues to prove itself as an incredibly special, impactful journal that not only shines in national contests but also spreads its influence around the world. My hope is that this is the fourth of many, many more wins to come."
Fitts, currently news editor and features editor for The Express, collected two big wins at JACC among her six awards. Her column ‘Liv On the Edge won first place for Column Writing, anointing her the best among two-year schools in California. She also took first in Feature Story for her piece “MAGA is here to stay” as part of The Express’ election coverage. Then at ACP, Fitts won fourth place among two-year and four-year schools in Reporting Feature Story category for her piece “Election Makes Clear the Future Isn’t Female Here” after Kamala Harris’ loss.
Fitts’ bounty highlighted an epic conference for The Express. At ACP, The Express won second place in the Newspaper/Newsmagazine category among two-year community colleges in America. The paper’s website, LPCExpressNews.com, was voted best in the nation for two-year schools. Both are the program’s highest-finishes ever.
Jakob Arnarsson, the current managing editor and sports editor, won second place for both Feature Story (“Oakland’s professional sports exodus impacts entire East Bay”)
and Sports Game Story (“Anything Is Possible for Hawks after upsetting top seed”).
“I have so much faith and confidence in my staff,” said Camille LeDuc, editor-in-chief of The Express whose video story on men’s basketball star Sterling McClanahan took fourth place at ACP.
“It’s easy at these conventions to get blinded by the competition because we’re up against the best two-year colleges and four-year universities in the country. But we are again reminded of our capacity. I’m so happy that this staff continues to get recognized for its greatness. We look forward to competing every year. Once again, we delivered.”
The latest edition of Naked was awarded the honor of General Excellence by JACC, given to the elite publications in California. Naked followed that by taking fifth place in JACC’s nationwide magazine category for two-year schools.
Kapsalis won first place and third place in the same category, Magazine Photo, at JACC for his shots in Naked of Ryan Hoffman and Abdoul Bagayan (below). His photo essay with former Naked staff writer Justin Gatterman Roth won second place in Magazine Photo-Story Essay.
Mel Llamas won second place for Magazine Profile for his piece in Naked on Las Positas alum Cassie Stossel’s battle with cancer.
“The Naked ‘25 staff made it easy,” said Fitts, editor-in-chief of the most recent issue. “We were beyond lucky to be advised by Marcus Thompson and Melissa Korber. To be mentored in layout by Jennifer Snook. To be gifted with a great photographer in Ian Kapsalis. To have a team of eager writers. We had a blast putting it together, and we’re beyond grateful to be recognized.”
The star of the live contests at JACC was Hepting. They won first place for the On-the-Spot competition in copy editing, adding to their third-place award for Editorial Cartoon.
Sabrina Hossain’s live opinion piece took third place at JACC.
Here is a full list of the awards for each publication.
The Express
First Place, Online Newspaper Best in Show (ACP): LPCExpressNews.com
First Place, Digital Newsletter Best in Show (ACP): Express Weekly by Aaliyah Gholamipour
Second Place, Newspaper/News Magazine Best in Show (ACP): The Express newspaper
Fourth Place, Reporting Feature Story Best in Show (ACP): Olivia Fitts
First Place, Column Writing (JACC): Olivia Fitts
First Place, Non-Profile Feature Story (JACC): Olivia Fitts
Second Place, Non-Profile Feature Story (JACC): Jakob Arnarsson
Second Place, Sports Game Story (JACC): Jakob Arnarsson
Third Place, Editorial Cartoon (JACC): Rain Hepting
Fourth Place, Broadcast Sports Story Best in Show (ACP): Camille LeDuc
Fourth Place, Inside Page Layout (JACC): The Express Staff
Honorable Mention, Critical Review (JACC): Sydney Breckenridge
Honorable Mention, Video Soft News Reporting (JACC): Camille LeDuc
Honorable Mention, Podcast/Audio News (JACC): Olivia Fitts
Honorable Mention, Photo Illustration (JACC): Olivia Fitts, Gabriel Carver
Honorable Mention, Sports Feature Photo (JACC): Jakob Arnarsson
Honorable Mention, Sports Game Story (JACC): Jakob Arnarsson
Meritorious, Enterprise News Story/Series (JACC): Jakob Arnarsson, Camille LeDuc, Olivia Fitts, James Sevilla, Mel Llamas
Naked
General Excellence, Magazine (JACC): Naked
Fifth Place, Feature Magazine Best in Show (ACP): Naked
First Place, Magazine Photo (JACC): Ian Kapsalis
Second Place, Magazine Profile (JACC): Mel Llamas
Second Place, Magazine Photo-Story Essay (JACC): Ian Kapsalis, Justin Gatterman Roth
Third Place, Magazine Photo (JACC): Ian Kapsalis
Honorable Mention, Magazine Photo-Story Essay (JACC): Ian Kapsalis, Abdoul Bagayan
Havik
First Place, Literary Arts Magazine Best in Show (ACP): Havik
People’s Choice Award, Literary Arts Magazine (ACP): Havik
10th Place, Advertisement (ACP): Kaitlyn White
On-the-Spot Awards
First Place, Copy Editing (JACC): Rain Hepting
Third Place, Opinion Writing (JACC): Sabrina Hossain
Fourth Place, News Judgement and Layout (JACC): Jakob Arnarsson
Honorable Mention, Editorial Cartoon (JACC): Rain Hepting
Honorable Mention, Editorial Cartoon (JACC): Aaliyah Gholamipour
Honorable Mention, Audio Story (JACC): Olivia Fitts, Sabrina Hossain
