Just a few years after graduating from Hoover High School, 2021 graduate Vache Sipanian is already earning national recognition for his journalism.
Sipanian recently returned from a national journalism conference in San Francisco, where he won three awards for his work in broadcast and digital media. He earned two honors from the Associated Collegiate Press and another from the California College Media Association.
“I won second place for best vertical shorts,” Sipanian said. “I also won 10th place for broadcast news story and fourth place for broadcast feature story out of the universities and colleges in the United States.”
The California College Media Association (CCMA) awards are highly competitive, featuring hundreds of entries from dozens of colleges and universities across the state. Judged by professional media experts, the awards recognize top student journalists, designers, and media staff at both four-year universities and community colleges.
Sipanian joined Hoover’s journalism program as a sophomore and is now a senior at California State University, Fullerton, where he plans to graduate this year.
“Journalism for me—I really love storytelling,” Sipanian said. “I went into this career because it’s very unique and everything is different. Something happens every day in news and journalism. No two days are the same, and I think that’s fascinating.”
He added that the constantly changing nature of the job is what makes the field so appealing.
“If you were to go into another job, it’s pretty repetitive,” he said.
One of Sipanian’s awards recognized his work in vertical short video, a format designed for social media platforms. The CCMA Best Vertical Short Video Award honors excellence in 9:16 short-form storytelling created for platforms such as Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.
After graduation, Sipanian hopes to continue working in broadcast journalism, though he acknowledges the path can be challenging.
“I would like to continue in broadcast journalism,” he said. “I want to continue my path in broadcasting.”
