South Bay college newspaper receives prestigious recognition

Yahoo

24-04-2025

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — The Southwestern College Sun student newspaper outdid other elite journalism programs for a prestigious award given by Columbia University.
'I'm still in shock because I can't believe that we won against these Ivy League schools when we're a little community college here close south to the border,' said Alexa Lima, the Southwestern Sun Newspaper's editor-in-chief.
'At first, I thought it must've been another Southwestern College from somewhere else. I said the one in Chula Vista, right? Yes. So, I was astonished and very happy,' said Max Branscomb, a journalism professor and the advisor for student publications.
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Named North America's best collegiate print newspaper by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the Southwestern College Sun won the Gold Crown Award, Columbia's highest award for student print and digital media.
'It is and as far as I know it's the first time Southwestern College has ever won this award in the 99 years they've been giving it,' said Branscomb.
This two-year community college newspaper has just one faculty advisor and wrestles with low funding. For the award, it competed with larger programs with better funding and three to five times the staff, but the stories they're producing are superior.
Lima explains how she quickly worked her way up to editor-in-chief.
'They just took me under their wing, the leadership here, and they were like okay this is how you report, this is how you write, this is what we like to cover. We like to cover the community here in Chula Vista,' said Lima.
That community coverage combined with their diverse staff is what sets them apart. The small but mighty staff consists of students from many different countries speaking a combined total of 11 different languages, allowing them to cover a wide range of topics in a diverse community, giving everyone a voice.
'Some people that come to this newsroom were from other places in the world and they bring their points of views and they contribute to it and I think that they always pitch really good ideas,' said Lima.
'We can send people to speak Tagalog, we can send people to Mexico to do stories in Spanish. So, we have a lot of power. Our diversity gives us power and strength,' said Branscomb.
Lima says some of the pieces she's most proud of are stories that highlight the cultural diversity of the region.
'I wrote a story about Rosie Hamlin, she was a local from National City, and she became the first female to go into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,' she said.
The work is done under the watchful eye of Professor Branscomb, who has been training and inspiring student journalists for nearly three decades.
'There's nothing more honorable than protecting democracy and protecting people that don't have a voice and telling the stories of underrepresented people, I can't think of a better way to earn a living,' Branscomb said.
The Sun received many other national awards in 2024, and the students behind the success say this is just the start.
'It was a way to show that because of all the hard work we do here we are good enough to compete with all of these Ivy Leagues, but at the same time it just pushes us to be better and to continue to do great work here,' said Lima.
To view the award-winning stories written by these student journalists, visit their website swcsun.org.
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