CSM journalism students were honored by the California College Media Association with a trio of prestigious awards for their coverage of several local stories. A team of CSM students that included Margaret Baum, Roger Boucher, Raymond Cheung, Alex Farr, Jeffrey Gonzalez, Tyler Huffman, Bruno Manrique, Jason Pun and Sylvia Vasquez captured the first place award for Best Special Section for coverage last September of the San Bruno fire. The students published an array of stories and photographs covering the event in a four-page section of The San Matean.

Students Alex Farr and Bruno Manrique also collected first place honors in the Best Breaking News Story category for coverage in February 2010 of a plane that crashed into an East Palo Alto home that was the residence of a CSM student.

Former CSM student Margaret Baum, now a journalism major at San Jose State University, received a third place in the Best Editorial category for her writing about a First Amendment issue.

The CCMA, which serves four-year colleges and universities, began allowing two-year community college journalists to compete against its members in 2010.