> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Excellence is plane to see in Corsair staff By Daily Press staff
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/excellence-is-plane-to-see-in-corsair-staff-by-daily-press-staff/
- Published: 2004-10-30T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:21:43.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Santa Monica College’s Corsair newspaper won a record 35 awards, including general excellence and two first-place honors, in the Journalism Association of Community Colleges’ Southern California competition.

The awards reflect achievements of the staff under spring semester editor Marie- Claude Hamel — one of just two students statewide to win a $750 Los Angeles Times scholarship — and current editor Komfort Akyempon. The faculty advisor is Barbara Baird.

In the on-the-spot competition (from the current Corsair staff), first-place honors went to Margaret Molloy for feature photo. Second-and third-place awards and honorable mentions went to Hamel, Molloy, Deborah Carson, Andi Liu, Andrei Lucien, Jonpaul Balak, Jonathan Derby, Maliha Jafri, Sophia Silver, Alex Arpiza and Marcia Brito.

In the mail-in category (from the spring semester staff), Blair Clarkson won a first-place award for news story. Second-and third-place awards and honorable mentions went to Lucien, Molloy, Clarkson, Hamel, Marie Jauffret, Raul Vasquez, Matthew B. Wilken, Josh Hill, Mark Sandstrom, Nicholas Chen, Morgan Genser, Christoph Seitz, Devon Fleury, Julian Jenkins, Jesus Aguirre, Rachel Hadlock-Piltz, Jhosef Hern and the Corsair staff (for inside page design).

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 30, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/103004.pdf?ref=smdp.com)