West Windsor – Student journalists with The College VOICE, Mercer County Community College’s (MCCC’s) student newspaper, recently won 13 New Jersey Press Foundation awards for the 2022-2023 year, including top honors in arts and entertainment reporting, investigative reporting, opinion writing, features reporting, and photography.

The VOICE ’s small but hardworking staff consists of roughly five to ten students. Ten students received awards, with three of the articles published during the spring semester by students in the college’s Journalism II class. 

The VOICE’s co-advisers, English and Journalism faculty members Associate Professor Matthew Kochis and Professor Holly Johnson, were delighted with the students’ accomplishments this year.

“The fact that we won so many awards is particularly remarkable as The VOICE is currently moving from its long-time home in Student Activities into an academic program,” said Johnson. “Despite the upheaval, students are still turning out top-quality work,” she said.

Students expressed their excitement when they learned about the awards.

Bruna Mayara Camara won first place in the “Photography” category for “The Piano Project, part of April Arts in Princeton, hit a special chord.”

Camara, who is originally from a town in Brazil called “Guajará-Mirim,” is in her final year at MCCC as a Communications New Media student. 

“I feel grateful for the answers of whoever is watching me (the universe, God, etc.),” said Camara, “because I wondered if I should keep following my passion which is photography.”

Camara explained that being at THE VOICE and at MCCC helped her to move ahead with confidence.

“All of this wouldn't be possible without the support of my professors and advisors, especially Professor Chovan-Dalton who helped me change the way I look at photography and think more critically,” Camara explained.

McKenna Miller, a first-year student at MCCC from East Windsor, won first place in the “Feature Writing” category for “The C.R.O.W.N. Act moves through Congress.”

Miller was part of the MCCC Career-Prep program when she was a senior in high school and is now a Communications New Media major at MCCC. Miller was thrilled to learn about the first-place award.

“I wasn’t expecting anything, so I was excited when I found out,” said Miller. “It gave me the validation that I can pursue writing in my career as well as editing, so it was very rewarding.”

She continued, “I wanted to be able to highlight everyone's voices who have dealt with microaggressions regarding their natural hair and the importance that the C.R.O.W.N act would have on the Black population in America.”

Julia Meriney of Jackson won first place in the “Opinion Writing” category for her article “Campus Wi-Fi woes ongoing: do improvements lie ahead?”

Meriney, a liberal arts major in her second year at MCCC, recently watched her children go off to college and decided to go back to school herself to get her associate’s degree. 

“Writing for The VOICE has been such an amazing experience and has helped with my confidence tremendously,” said Meriney. “I initially joined hoping to take photographs for the paper, but Professor Johnson suggested that I write an article, so I took her advice and wrote a piece about the campus Wi-Fi.” 

Meriney continued, “I was so nervous and was sure I was going to mess up the interviews, but once I finalized the article and saw it published in the paper, all feelings of anxiety were replaced with pure joy and a strong sense of achievement.” 

Other MCCC college students, career-prep high school students and former MCCC students from in an around the area were also honored with awards.

‘Madhavi Steinert of Trenton, a graduate of MCCC, won first place in the Investigative Reporting category for “Board Chair and exiting president clash: Feud includes $200,000 bill for internal investigation.”

Isabelle Nicolas of Lawrence is still in high school and is a career-prep student at MCCC. She won second place in the “Opinion Writing” category for “Hustle Culture is Killing us!”

Christopher Patti, a graduate of MCCC, won second place in the “Photography” category for “Howell Living History Farm” and third place in the “Sports Writing” category for “Basketball teams had a rough season.”

High-school student Jessica Romero-Silver of Lawrence is a career-prep student at MCCC. She won first place in the Arts & Entertainment category for “HBO documentary ‘The Janes’ is must see TV for anyone who cares about abortion.”

Sadie Pattik of Hamilton is in high school and is a career-prep student at MCCC. She won second place in the Arts & Entertainment category for "The Fantasticks comes to Kelsey Theatre.”

Ashley Peng won second place in the Feature Writing category for “Funeral Service is an unusual standout program at MCCC.”

Ruby Voge won second place in the News Writing category for “ChatGPT generates mixed responses from Mercer professors.”

MCCC's The VOICE graduates are known for their excellent long-term outcomes. Recent award winners have gone on to jobs at mainstream publications.

The VOICE’s most recent Co-Editor in Chief, Ashley Jackson, was accepted as a transfer student at Princeton and started last fall. Other recent VOICE alums who have been successful include former Editor in Chief Maria Ramos Pacheco, who is a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, former Sports Editor Jackson Thompson who recently left his job as a reporter for Sports Illustrated for a job at ESPN, former Managing Editor Drew Mumich who is a reporter for the Chatham Star-Tribune in Virginia, former Editor in Chief Chelsey Johnstone who is a news editor for Out In Jersey magazine, former reporter Mohammad Wiswall who is getting a Ph.D. at Duke University, and former Managing Editor Griffin Jones who transferred to Columbia University and wrote for the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review. 

In addition to the student awards, MCCC’s The College VOICE also won second place for Website and second place for General Excellence.

The students will be honored at a ceremony on April 22, 2023 at Forsgate Country Club in Monroe.

For information about Mercer County Community College’s THE COLLEGE VOICE newspaper, visit https://www.mccc.edu/news_voice.shtml.

 

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Student journalists with The College VOICE, Mercer County Community College’s student newspaper, recently won 13 New Jersey Press Foundation awards for the 2022-2023 year, including top honors in arts and entertainment reporting, investigative reporting, opinion writing, features reporting, and photography. In addition to the student awards, MCCC’s The College VOICE also won second place for Website and second place for General Excellence. (Photo credit: The College Voice)