WEST WINDSOR, NJ – The accolades keep coming in for Mercer County Community College’s (MCCC) student journalists, with an editorial cartoonist for the student newspaper The College VOICE earning highest honors in a competition that included students from top universities in the Northeast.

Liam Simonelli, a resident of Robbinsville and graduate of Robbinsville High School, has won the national Mark of Excellence Award (MOEy) for Editorial Cartooning in the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) competition for collegiate journalists. This year students from 37 colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada were involved in the competition.

To qualify, Simonelli had to first win at the Region 1 level, which includes the entire Northeast. The MOEys–considered by many to be the Oscars of college journalism–does not have a separate category for two-year colleges, meaning Simonelli was competing with student journalists from powerhouse programs at Harvard, Syracuse, Tufts and many others. This year, Simonelli was one of only two community college winners at the national level.

“Liam has more talent in his pinky finger than most of us have in our whole bodies. No one deserves this award more than he does,” said Holly Johnson, professor of English and journalism at MCCC and advisor to The College VOICE. “I'm so proud of Liam, but I can't take any credit for his success. The VOICE gave him an outlet for his work, but his success comes from his creativity and his hard work."

Simonelli served as Art Editor for The VOICE in his final semester at MCCC and graduated last December. Since then, in addition to his job at ShopRite, he has been freelancing and working an internship with Counterpoint, an editorial cartoon syndication service, where his work has been published nationwide. He will be attending The College of New Jersey in the fall, studying journalism and graphic design.

As MCCC’s student newspaper, The College VOICE is a frequent recipient of top honors in state and national college journalism competitions, picking up 30 awards from the New Jersey Press Foundation in the last two years, including Simonelli’s third place award in sports reporting. MCCC students received top honors in arts and entertainment reporting, investigative reporting, opinion writing, features reporting, and photography.

MCCC President Dr. Deborah E. Preston praised Simonelli and the entire staff of The VOICE for their significant accomplishments over the past year. And she is very familiar with Simonelli’s work, as a subject of one of his most award-winning editorial cartoons.

“Liam’s talent was on full display from my first day at Mercer, and being a subject of his work is something I accept as a badge of honor,” Preston said. “His work and recognition on a national level is emblematic of the quality of Mercer’s journalism courses and new media academic programs, and I am proud they are getting the attention they deserve. Liam has a bright future ahead, and I am pleased Mercer will have played an important part.”

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About Mercer County Community College
Established in 1966, Mercer County Community College is a publicly supported comprehensive institution that provides opportunities for higher education through an open-door admission policy. The scenic 292-acre West Windsor Campus was opened in 1972 to serve the needs of Mercer County residents. MCCC’s James Kerney Campus, located in downtown Trenton, serves as an educational and cultural hub for city residents that meets the changing needs of thousands of students and community members seeking educational fulfillment and personal and career growth. President: Deborah E. Preston, Ph.D.; www.mccc.edu

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