Paramus College Student Earns Press Association Award

Paramus' David Gomez, a co-editor on the Bergen Community College student newspaper staff, earned a first-place writing award from the New Jersey Presss Foundation.

The Torch student newspaper won a number of national, regional and state contests for students newspapers. Gomez was one of the editorial staff members to take home an award. He earned first place in the Arts and Entertainment/Critical Writing category.

Editor-in-Chief Anthony Sganga of Ridgefield Park was awarded first place in the feature writing and editorial writing categories.

Staff members also took home several second place awards from the New Jersey Press Foundation in the areas of column writing, news writing, layout and photography.

In addition, the Torch won awards in a national contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), which drew more than 350 entries throughout the country. The Torch garnered two awards including second-place in the Best News Publication category and third-place in News Reporting for coverage of the College’s Board of Trustees.

In the SPJ’s Region 1, which covers all six New England states, New York, New Jersey and central and eastern Pennsylvania, The Torch won second place as Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper in SPJ’s Mark of Excellence awards. The Torch competed against all two-year and four-year colleges and universities in the region.