Woodcrest, the college’s literary magazine, recently received the gold crown award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association for its latest issue. With a new template and look, the Spring 2010 issue of the magazine advanced beyond what had been published in previous years.
The awards were announced at the 33rd annual College Media Convention held in New York City during mid-March. Six college magazines were awarded the gold crown award and nine took silver crowns. Woodcrest was the only publication to win the gold crown in Pennsylvania.
“It was just gratifying to be recognized and winning was just the icing on the cake,” Shannon Fandler, 2010 English alumna and co-editor of Woodcrest, said.
Woodcrest is an anthology of student work that includes writing, photography and art. This was the first year that student art was included in the magazine.
“In doing this, you get a lot more chances to get people recognized and not only writers, but also the artists and photographers of the college,” Mary Gunheim, 2010 graphic design alumna and co-editor of Woodcrest, said.
In the fall of this year, Woodcrest received the gold medalist rating with high scores in design and content. The magazine also took third in design, Shannon Fandler took second for her short story, “I felt differently about my neighbors,” and Anthony Casazza took honorable mention for his photography.
According to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, all magazines and collegiate publication are judged on design, writing, editing, content, photography, concept and artwork.
The most obvious change of this issue was the change in the template and design of Woodcrest. In past years, the magazine has chosen to use a pre-set template, which did not include any student art. When Gunheim became a co-editor, she decided to revamp the design.
“There were always senior editors who were working on the magazine, so my senior year I got my turn,” Gunheim said.
Along with the addition of student art and photography, the editors also put a greater emphasis on the design of the magazine and the organization of the placement of the pieces. The editors remained selective about what pieces they chose and contained them within a shorter number of pages.
Though the editors remained particular about what they included in the magazine, they still struggled to gain submissions for the issue. Many of the pieces submitted were from students in creative writing classes and artwork from different art courses.
“But hopefully in the future, students will know more about it and will be able to submit their work that they do independently as well,” Fandler said.
