Students awarded for creativity

Of 6,420 entries and 1,267 winners from across the country, five UTRGV Gallery magazine contributors received awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 33rd Gold Circle Awards program.

Gallery is an annual student-run literary and arts magazine.

“We sent in a lot of entries. … It means a lot, I think, you know because we as instructors, we tell them, ‘Hey you’re doing really interesting things,’ but I think it’s also nice to have some stranger in New York say, ‘Hey, this is working,’” said Britt Haraway, creative writing assistant professor and faculty adviser to Gallery.

The CSPA is a volunteer-based organization that unites student journalists and faculty advisers through educational conferences, idea exchanges, textbooks, critiques and award programs, according to the Columbia University website. Students are awarded either first, second or third place, or with Certificates of Merit. The competition has magazine, newspaper, yearbook and online media categories.

Haraway sent in about 30 individual entries to the CSPA that the Gallery magazine staff had already discussed when they were conducting their own campus contest. The staff consists of students from a creative writing class as well as some outside student recruits.

“We had talked about which poems we were most excited about when we had our own campus awards. So, in general, I just sent in those ones that the students had nominated for our campus,” he said.

Josie Del Castillo won first place in the Magazine Portfolio Illustration category with her “Evocative” series. Brent Davis placed second in the Magazine Humor category for his piece, “The Moral Implications of Chic-fil-a.”

Del Castillo, a UTRGV studio art graduate student, had submitted a series of four oil-painted portraits to Gallery. Each painting featured a realistic figure in front of a colorful, abstract background. She feels honored for receiving an award from the CSPA.

“Columbia University is in New York, and that’s where all the big boys are. So I was like, ‘Wow,’” Del Castillo said. “It was like three people, or four people, in that category but I still won first of all those other universities. I mean, I feel proud as a Hispanic as well because I was the only one from Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. … This is just a small step to what I want to achieve this year, or next year, or the following years as I pursue my master’s.”

Cari Villarreal won a Certificate of Merit in the Magazine Open Poetry category for her poem, “Communion.” Laura Gonzalez earned a Certificate of Merit in the Magazine Experimental Fiction category for her work, “How to Ruin Your High School Life Your Senior Year, In 10 Days, In 3 Simple Steps, As Told by Judith Sloan.” Melissa Vega garnered a Certificate of Merit for the Magazine Computer Generated Illustration category with her piece, “Governed.”

“Governed” is a spray paint and collage artwork that explores the idea of rationing and the concept of government control over lower-class citizens, said Vega, a UTRGV alum with a bachelor’s degree in art. She was surprised to find out her artwork received an award.

“I didn’t realize I won anything until Josie posted something up on Facebook! … I was like, ‘I wonder who else won.’ … So when I went to my email, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I got an email!’ … It kind of hit me halfway through reading the message that I won something!” Vega said in a phone interview with The Rider. “I only submitted one piece. … It was pretty surrealistic.”

Gallery will continue to enter this competition in the future. It is currently taking submissions for its Gallery 2017 issue for poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, plays and artwork. Submissions are kept anonymous between the staff as they discuss which entries will be in the final publication.

“It’s open to any UTRGV student. …We try to include a lot of different styles, subject matter. … Definitely try to keep an open mind to whatever the students are doing,” Haraway said.

Vega encourages students to submit their work to the magazine.

“Don’t be scared to try. I think that a lot of times people are very shy or very timid in pursuing something. And they just automatically say, ‘Well, you know what, I’m not gonna try.’ And I think that it’s important to try because you really don’t know where you stand unless you do,” Vega said.

Del Castillo also advises students to not fear rejection.

“Submit, like, whatever you think is your strongest work. … Don’t be scared to be rejected. … I have been rejected before from other, like, contests and stuff, but that doesn’t get me down. You gotta move on to the next one because there’s a lot of opportunities. You just gotta look for them,” she said.

Copies of Gallery 2016 can be found at the Liberal Arts Building South lobby and Writing Center on the Edinburg campus, and at the Grid on the Brownsville campus.

Students may submit their work to Gallery at gallery.submittable.com/submit. For more information, contact Haraway at britt.haraway@utrgv.edu or the magazine at www.facebook.com/galleryutrgv/.