By Emma Peterson
Emma Peterson announces award winners for Best Feature Story. From left to right: Quinn Smalley (JRN 185 and 285), Patrick Molina (Student Media Club) and Beatrice Perez (Student Media Club). Photo by Benjamin Kelly.
On Thursday, April 30, Pima Community College’s Downtown Campus held their annual Student Media Celebration to acknowledge and award all of the content producers for The Pima Post. Between the fall 2025 and spring 2026 semesters, students enrolled in the JRN 185 and 285 courses produced almost 100 written, audio and visual stories, and that’s not including contributions from the Student Media Club.
In order to simulate real world expectations, students taking JRN 185 and 285 are supposed to submit at least 10 clips (or stories) per semester, within any topic they desire. If you’ve done the math, you’ll see that The Pima Post is a small but mighty force.
Coming up with a story takes curiosity and imagination, finding people to talk to about the matter takes courage and often requires going outside of your comfort zone, and to make sure what they’re saying is true requires time and patience and lots of research. The Pima Post’s storytellers of the ’25-’26 semesters mastered not only these skills, but so much more.
To honor their efforts and highlight their special places within the publication, here are some of the award-winning stories and storytellers that made The Pima Post great this year:
Diedra Eby (JRN 185 and 285)
- Most Valuable Journalist: for their significant contributions and outstanding impact on their publication and team.
- Team Player Award: for their exemplary dedication to uplifting others, contributing across departments and fostering collaboration.
- Campus Correspondence Award: for their work in significantly capturing campus policy, culture or awareness. Eby was The Pima Post’s top writer for events and need-to-knows involving the PCC community. Stories that won her this award include “Model Casting Call: 20th Annual PCC Fashion Show & Event Planning Class,” “Pima Community College Tops Pell Grants Among Public Institutions,” “The Future of Pima Community College: A recap of PCC’s Planning Day event,” and several more.
Read all of Diedra Eby’s stories for The Pima post here.
Quinn Smalley (JRN 185 and 285)
- Best Feature Story Award: for their excellence in storytelling, creativity and human interest reporting. Stories that won him this award include “Cal’s Comeback,” “Where did the homosexuals go?,” and “Pima County Community Libraries: Supporting and serving all communities.”
- Editorial Excellence Award: for their outstanding opinion writing that demonstrates clarity, persuasion and thought leadership. Smalley’s opinion writing is what set him apart, but a few of his most notable pieces were “Review: JADE’S Debut Album ‘That’s Showbiz, Baby!,'” “Reclaiming Ownership: The Power in Owning Physical Media,” and “In the Valley: A Cosmic Queer Abduction Film.”
Read all of Quinn Smalley’s stories for The Pima Post here.
Spring 2026 JRN 185 student Illianna Valenzuela takes notes during guest speaker and Department Head of the journalism department Valerie Vinyard’s conversation on how to find angles for stories. Photo by Emma Peterson.
Rory Archer (JRN 185)
- Best Feature Story Award: for their excellence in storytelling, creativity and human interest reporting. Archer was known for their original voice and imaginative stories. Some of their best clips were “Guinea Pig Heist Leads to Allegations of Abuse, Corporate Infighting,” “Remember, you will die — An anecdote on mourning the death of friends,” and “Rejoice! The Seven-Year Wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong is Over.”
Read all of Rory Archer’s stories for The Pima Post here.
Natalia Serrano (JRN 185)
- Deadline Warrior Award: for their exceptional reliability, speed and accuracy displayed in meeting publication deadlines.
- Emerging Journalist Award: for displaying exemplary growth, enthusiasm and dedication to journalism. Serrano tried her hand at several different beats and always accomplished her reporting creatively and professionally. Her natural skills in storytelling are clear in her writing, and can be seen most in “Win like a girl: How success in the Winter Olympics is reviving women’s sports,” “From TikTok to toy shelves: How viral products are changing small businesses,” and “Bruno Mars is ‘The Romantic.'”
Read all of Natalia Serrano’s stories for The Pima Post here.
Illianna Valenzuela (JRN 185)
- Emerging Journalist Award: for displaying exemplary growth, enthusiasm and dedication to journalism. Valenzuela showed great potential through her work, which can be seen particularly in her articles “How PCC staff members are juggling responsibilities during heightened ICE activity,” and “A new era begins: BTS redefines success with record-breaking release.”
Read all of Illianna Valenzuela’s stories for The Pima Post here.
JRN 185 and 285 students gather around to share pitches for The Pima Post with guest speaker Dan Shearer during the fall 2025 semester. Photo by Emma Peterson.
Caroline Hansen (JRN 185)
- Best Political Story Award: for their exceptional insight, clarity, and depth in reporting on political issues. “Thrilling Activism for Upcoming No Kings 2.0,” and “Lamplighters of Tucson” were a couple of Hansen’s wonderfully captivating and politically relevant pieces.
- Multimedia Innovator Award: for their innovative use of multimedia elements (video, audio, graphics) to enhance storytelling. Hansen proved to be a strong video and audio storyteller with clips like “Tucson shows up for national “No Kings” protests,” “Stressed Out Students: Take a Break, Take a Breath!,” and more.
- Byline of honor award: for their passionate contribution to journalism and ethical pursuit of truth. Hansen displayed both in the classroom and through her reporting her passion and concern for both the PCC and greater Tucson community and was certainly a leader in all respects.
Jackson Melin (JRN 285)
- Emerging Journalist Award: for displaying exemplary growth, enthusiasm and dedication to journalism. Melin is exemplary of a multi-skilled reporter who has experience now in several different beats. From politics and features, he can do it all and is expected to be a great career journalist. Some of his best from fall 2025 were “Imperforate, Not Imperfect: A Guide to Anorectal Malformations,” “MTG M.I.A? Trump Loses a Loyal Supporter,” and “Help Wanted: A Look Into the Nursing Shortage.”
Read all of Jackson Melin’s stories for The Pima Post here.
Joseph Cunningham (JRN 285)
- Legacy Achievement Award: for this graduating student’s contributions and leadership in student media. Cunningham is now studying journalism at the University of Arizona.
- Best Political Story Award: for their exceptional insight, clarity, and depth in reporting on political issues. Some of his most notable political stories include “How Does The Government Shutdown Affect Tucson?,” “Opinion: Trump did everything wrong during the shutdown — but so did Democrats,” and “Netflix and Warner Bros. merge deal set at $82 billion.”
Read all of Joseph Cunningham’s stories for The Pima Post here.
For more information on JRN 185 and 285, the Student Media Club or sending your story to The Pima Post, please contact Professor Emma Peterson at epeterson22@pima.edu. See you in the fall!
JRN 185 and 285 students in class during the spring 2026 semester. From left to right: Diedra Eby, Quinn Smalley, Natalia Serrano, and Illianna Valenzuela. Photo by Emma Peterson.