The Orion brings home the hardware from CCMA

Some of The Orion award winners before Saturday night's ceremony: Ben Mullin, Tercius Bufete, Kevin Lee, Jenna Fujitsubo, Editor-in-Chief Jenna Valdespino, Liz Coffee, Katrina Cameron and Adviser Mark Plenke.

The Orion took home more than a dozen awards during this weekend's California College Media Association awards ceremony at San Jose State. Kevin Lee and Liam Turner won firsts in feature and news photography, Tercius Bufete took home two firsts for ad design, and Lindsay Smith took both first and second places for infographics.

Here's the list, along with judge's comments. The Orion competes in the weekly newspaper division:

NEWS
General excellence, 2nd place: Nice typography, good use of graphics.

Overall design, 3rd place.

Best non-breaking story, 2nd place, Quinn Western and Katrina Cameron: "Drinking death, hazing allegations suspend Greek system at Chico State" Well written story on a serious issue. Strongly researched with good background information on the Green system.

Best news photo, 1st place, Liam Turner: "Grief" Photographer was able to make a compelling image in a touchy situation. Nice capture.

Best feature photo, 1st place, Kevin Lee: "Yo Yo" Just a fantastic image. Best image of the category! The timing is perfect, composition and lighting all add to this image that is fun and a delight to look at for the reader. Excellent frame.

Best news page design, 2nd place, Jenna Fujitsubo, "Suspended" Nice use of photo, headlines and story for nice design. It's always tough when reversing out of black type.

Best headline portfolio, 3rd place, Ben Mullin, Good touch on harder-news heads.

Best infographic, 1st place, Lindsay Smith: Individual pieces presented nicely and overall composition works well. Good local focus.

2nd place, Lindsay Smith: Nice combination of artwork and information. Well designed and appropriately sized for the amount of information.

Best cartoon, 2nd place, Liz Coffee: Hilarious Cosmo sendup, perfectly accompanies column.

Best special section, 3rd place: Very professional-looking cover. Nice and clean design throughout. I also like the use of a locator map.

ADVERTISING

Best black and white ad, 1st place, Tercius Bufete:  "Orion Sex Columnist" Dominant photo element grabs the reader's attention and reinforces the headline and ad theme.

Best color ad, 1st place, Tercius Bufete: "The Orion - Hunters of Truth" Excellent color reproduction of the photo really makes this ad stand out. Clever tie in of theme with newspaper's brand.

Congratulations everyone!