Photo Courtesy Steven Hughes
Paulina Longoria | THE RIDER
UTRGV Gallery magazineโs 2020 issue has earned four Gold Circle Awards in the Columbia Scholastic Press Associationโs 37th annual contest.
Gallery is an annual arts and literary magazine created by students enrolled in the English 3350 course taught by Britt Haraway, creative writing associate professor. The magazine is published every spring semester, showcasing studentsโ work.
The Spring 2020 issue received the following Gold Circle Awards:
–first place in Experimental Fiction for โMagical Realismโ by Lourdes Garcia and Jacob Villanueva
–second place in Humor for โMagical Realismโ by Lourdes Garcia and Jacob Villanueva
–third place in Photography for โHatman in Taxcoโ by Rebekah Gomez
–Certificate of Merit in Photography for โBlue Dreamโ by Myriah Acosta.ย
The Gold Circle Awards recognize superior work by student journalists from high schools and colleges throughout the United States, according to its website.
This year, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association drew 5,757 yearbook and digital media entries submitted in 91 categories and 5,194 newspaper and magazine entries submitted in 86 categories, the website states.
โI think the students are proud that their work was selected among these many, many entries from the various colleges across the country,โ Haraway said. โWe, as a magazine, are proud, too, because we think weโre doing a really good job. โฆ But it is nice to have an outsider say the same thing.โ
He said Gallery provides students an outlet to celebrate their creative projects.
โIt gives them a forum to, really, put it out there,โ Haraway said. โWe want to get our work out there [for] the people around campus.โ
Steven Hughes, a mass communication senior and Galleryโs editor-in-chief, said there are different criteria for art and literature to select the studentโs pieces for the magazine.
โWe had our art committee, who would oversee the selection of art pieces,โ Hughes said, who also serves as editor-in-chief of Pulse magazine. โWe also allowed them to decide what pieces we wanted to send out to [this competition].
He also said the prose and poetry editors selected the studentsโ pieces to submit for the competition.
Yazmin Sanchez, a UTRGV graduate and Galleryโs art director and Spanish editor, said she believes the magazine is meant to highlight the studentsโ work.ย
โWe were there to make other peopleโs work shine, not our work,โ Sanchez said. โWe were just the medium, not the artist.โ
She said it is hard for English students to find a place to showcase their work, and Gallery magazine is an amazing opportunity they can take to do so.
Haraway, Hughes and Sanchez encourage students to submit their work for Galleryโs Spring 2021 issue.
To view the different categories and submit pieces, visit gallery.submittable.com.
โIt means a lot to the students, it means a lot to the university to see the campus community working together, not only with the classroom staff, but within the student body as a whole … to produce something of pure art,โ Hughes said.
