The Renegade Rip, Bakersfield College’s student newspaper, earned general excellence in the region at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges Southern California Regional last weekend at Cal State-Fullerton.
The Rip tied with Saddleback College for the top score among the 28 newspapers that entered the general excellence category, which was judged by professional journalists. The judging is based on a 110-point system that studies each phase of a newspaper – content, photography, page design and advertising. The Rip and Saddleback each scored 100 points, the only papers to do so.
The Rip is a broadsheet newspaper that publishes once every two weeks during the fall and spring semesters. It publishes 4,000 copies per issue.
The Rip was also awarded general excellence for its online product, which can be viewed at therip.com.
The regional conference drew approximately 400 student journalists from community colleges in Southern California. The conference consisted of workshops focusing on print journalism, multimedia and broadcasting, as well as on-the-spot contests designed to test students in professional journalistic situations.
In on-the-spot competition, the Rip’s Marcinda Coil took second place in the page design/news judgment category; Kyle Beall and Ally Armstrong were awarded an honorable mention in the team feature category; Earl Parsons won an honorable mention in opinion writing; and Anna Robledo earned special recognition for her role as editor-in-chief of the Rip.