SAN MARCOS — Palomar College’s literary magazine, Bravura, won its first national award in the Community College Humanities Association (CCHA) Pacific-Western region competition in November.
Bravura is a student-run literary magazine that features past, present, and future Palomar student’s work. Associate professors Stacey Trujillo and Claire Rolens act as senior editors for the magazine and teach English 137, the Bravura class. After 15 weeks of pressure this semester, the Bravura staff secured first place for “Best overall” in Palomar’s nine-state region as well as third place nationally.
“It is the first time we’ve placed nationally, and it is the first time we placed first in our division.” Professor Clare Rolens said.
In the same competition, four student writers for Bravura earned awards and recognition for their individual pieces including writing and photography.
Trujillo explained that the award for best overall magazines includes the quality of submissions, amount of work done by students, layout, proofreading, and more. Every one of these roles is filled by a student from start to finish.
From print to publication the students have 15 weeks to create all aspects of the magazine. The first place winner had a full year to create theirs and the second place magazine was created by faculty according to Trujillo.
Rolens added they do not repeat one student’s work more than twice. Students can submit as much as they’d like, but Bravura strives to get as much representation as possible.
Local highschool students as well as past and present students are encouraged to submit a wide variety of art, prose, or design. It is an opportunity to be a published artist or author.
“It’s a big deal for the students because that goes on their resume forever,” Rolens said.
All students are given opportunities to submit any creative work, and by participating in the class as an editor they are able to select which submissions are nominated for awards.
“We will continue to submit because it’s that validation for the students. They put so much hard work into it and I think that it’s important.” Trujillo said.
For more information, visit Bravura’s official website or contact the faculty advisors [email protected] and [email protected].
