For the sixth year in a row, Cabrini University’s online-literary magazine, Woodcrest, has been honored with a Crown Award by Columbia Scholastic Press Association. This year’s award is a silver crown.
Woodcrest covers a variety of topics in its “pages,” including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, reviews and visual arts, such as photography and art.
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association looks at submissions from high schools and colleges across the nation. The contestants are looked at in two stages. First, judges, using a five-page template, evaluate the magazine as a whole. What is evaluated ranges from editing to visuals. Then, if the submissions have received a certain score, they are looked at for gold or silver awards.
Being a legacy winner, the staff of Woodcrest is never expecting this award to come their way.
“We sweat it out every year. We are winning against ivy league schools and against institutions with student bodies of over 20,000. To continually wind up on top is a tremendous accomplishment. In no way do I expect this as a given,” faculty adviser of the magazine and English professor Amy Persichetti said.
Last year’s issue focussed on identity.
“This edition was funded by a grant through our Gender and Body Studies program, so it was important that identity was a part of this issue,” junior editorial staff member Johnny Myers said. “I think this issue stands out because of its focus on identity. That was something entirely new this year, so it was cool for the magazine to grow in that aspect.”
“The vision remains consistent: to showcase the art and writing of Cabrini University students,” Persichetti said. “[But] this issue has a section on identity, to help celebrate and reveal the diversity on campus.”
Besides its theme of focus, Woodcrest is outstanding in finer details and mechanics.
“It is a consistent publication that meets the highest standards of editing. You will not find many errors, grammatically or otherwise, in these final publications. I pride myself on that standard,” Persichetti said.
Moving up from an editorial staff member to the editor of the next issue, senior Caitlyn Huebner recognizes the dedication it takes to produce Woodcrest.
“Each year, and after each award, the bar is set even higher than the year prior. This occurs with the work published and also with the editorial staff. Our criteria for publication become stricter to assure we’re publishing only the best of the best,” Huebner said. “When it comes to our editorial staff, they must have an exceptional grasp on not just grammar, but how to detect voice and flow of a story. The continued work and dedication severely helps to endlessly improve each issue.”
Being a member of the editorial staff is like being a part of a hardworking team.
“I see how staff members solicit submissions from classmates and how they advertise Woodcrest around campus. I see how they step up and create creative pieces, if the submissions aren’t coming in. I see how they tirelessly work on copyediting a piece line-by-line multiple times to eliminate that last grammatical error. I see how, when they aren’t sure about something, they go to fellow staff members and ask for advice or tips or help with whatever they may need help with,” Huebner said.
Becoming a part of such a prestigious publication can be done through submitting pieces to woodcrestproject@gmail.com or enrolling in the project-based classes English 420 and English 423.
