Magazines may compete in any number of the available categories. Individual entries in genre categories are judged according to appropriate genre conventions; these nominated pieces compete for first, second, third, and honorable mention awards within their region (plaque for first place, paper award for others). Only nominated pieces will be considered for awards. Winning pieces may be posted to the CCHA website.
The Best Magazine category is judged holistically on the criteria of aesthetics, correct editing, ease of navigation, and strength of student work. Magazines compete within their "weight" class (determined by the enrollment and magazine funding levels of the participating colleges). Awards will be given for both first and second places within each region and nationally.
Instituted by the directors of AWP’s member programs, two National Program Directors' Prizes for undergraduate literary magazines are awarded annually to outstanding journals in the categories of content and design. Each winning magazine receives a $1,000 cash award. Winners are announced in the Writer's Chronicle and in other media, and the winning magazines are acknowledged at AWP's Annual Conference & Bookfair the following year. Prize honoraria are sent directly to the winning magazines. The final judges for content and design are announced at the conclusion of the competition.
The quality of a school's publications and how they present themselves to their reading community is a guidepost to the quality of the publishing school. Many studies have shown that the school yearbook is the one single item most often saved by graduates and can be located by most people even ten years later. For these reasons, and if you have not used our service in the past, we would like to introduce you to our SCHOLASTIC REVIEW AND CONTEST.
Our service, in the form of a CONTEST, provides advice on page design, story layout, graphics, headlining, cover design, advertising placement, photography and a variety of other useful items. When a school is spending several thousand dollars on a school publication, this service more than pays for itself in the help it provides in the year-to-year improvement in the style, format, contents, and presentability of the school yearbook or magazine.
Each school yearbook and magazine is scored on a point system and is awarded a FIRST, SECOND, or THIRD PLACE in its classification. Those school publications with special and outstanding design and content may receive a FIRST PLACE WITH SPECIAL MERIT.