New to JACC or just can't figure out what's happening and how things work? Or are you just having trouble finding things on the web site?
This page is for you. Let's try to provide some answers.
The Journalism Association of Community Colleges has been serving its mission of extended opportunities for journalism students and continued education for journalism educators since the 1950s.
Membership in the organization is by college rather than by individual person. Members schools are primarily public community college journalism programs from California and Arizona, but the organization in the past has entertained opening it up to private two-year schools and others outside of California and Arizona. Contact us if you are interested.
Only students from member schools may participate in JACC activities. An individual does not have to be enrolled in a journalism course, but obviously we hope he or she is associated with the journalism program. School memberships are due by Oct. 15 of each school year. (Note: Schools may have local rules that limit participation only to journalism students and we honor those rules.)
Below we'll give you a rundown on the various conferences and services
ABOUT JACC
Each of the links in the left-hand navigational area leads you to valuable information about JACC and its activities. Think of the web site as a newspaper with many sections. The "front page" of the site contains the lead stories and teasers/links to many other stories in each "section" of the paper. There may --indeed there usually ARE-- other stories/files found in each section. To go to those sections use the navigation to the left side of the page. If you do not see the link you are looking for on the front page, always look on the section page before giving up.
To further help you find what you are looking for, the navigational area is divided into logical categories of "Conferences," "About JACC," "Services," "Around the State," and "Past Conferences." Click on those links in the navagational area and you'll be presented with a summary of the sections in that category. Many of those summaries are included in this primer as well.
CONFERENCES
The main activities of the organization are the conferences it sponsors each year for both students and faculty members. You'll see the various conferences listed in the navigational area at the top of this page.
ANNUAL CONVENTION
The is the biggie. The convention, usually held each April, brings students and faculty from all sections of JACC together for a Thursday evening-Saturday night weekend full of workshops, contests and meetings. Contests include newspaper, magazine and online mail-in competitions and bring-in and on-the-spot competitions. Mail-in eligibility dates for the state conventions are always January to December year and entries are due in early January.
You'll find relevant information for the coming convention in this section: registration information contest information, general policies, etc. If you don't find the information in this section, it may not be available yet.
Student-produced material originally published in student publications newspapers, magazines, online publications, etc.may be entered in mail-in contests. Entries are due in early January and the eligibility period is always a calendar year. Entries must be clippings from the publications, though the organization is exploring ways to include material published on online publications. Entry preparation guidelines are usually available online about a month before deadlines. But in most cases, the entries must be clipped and mounted to 8.5x11-inch paper.
Each school may enter two entries in each contest category unless otherwise noted. Students who have been around for longer than three years may be ineligible for some contests. See the eligibility rules. They are listed in the List of Contests and in the general guidelines.
A mail-in contest fee is due at the time entries are due.
You do not HAVE to attend the conference to participate in the mail-in contest; you just have to be a member. But the conference is so awesome we can't imagine why you wouldn't want to participate.
The deadline for conference registrations is usually early March, about a month before the conference. Registrations are accepted by school, not individual. We limit the number of students from each school to 20 maximum AND at least one faculty adviser from the school MUST attend. A school with two or more advisers may beig up to 25 students. For those advisers who have emergencies, special accommodations can be made, but advisers should plan to attend.
Once the deadline for registrations arrives reservations they cannot be un-made. We plan meals and other expenses based on these reservations, so we hold you to them. Each student/faculty member must pay the per delegate registration fee before the conference. We also expect delegates to behave appropriately at the convention. See JACC's Conduct Code for more information.
In addition to conference reservations you will need to make hotel reservations at the conference hotel. Do this directly with the hotel, but mention JACC because we have negotiated special rates. These rates usually expire if reservations are not made about a month before the conference.
At the conference we schedule a variety of "bring-in" contests, "on-the-spot" contests, workshops, business meetings and entertainment.
Information for "bring-in" contests is sent out by e-mail and posted on the web site weeks before the conference. Students are expected to prepare entries ahead of time and submit them for competition at the beginning of the conference.
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