Plainfield South Literary Magazine Wins 'Excellent' Rank

The literary magazine, “Metamorphic Expressions in Blue & White,” has received a rank of “Excellent” in the 2010 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) program that recognizes student literary magazines.

This is the third consecutive year that the magazine has earned the top honor from the NCTE program.

“Metamorphic Expressions in Blue & White” is in its fifth year of production.  The NCTE award was given to last year’s edition.  The magazine includes poetry and art collected from the whole school population.

“What means the most to me in regards to receiving this award again this year is to see the sense of accomplishment in the club members,” literary magazine co-sponsor Amy Brown said. 

“They are so proud that their hard work is paying off and they have something to show for this product that they have put so much energy into,” she said.

“Having the award for the third year is both a continued reward for all the work that gets put into it and motivation to make this year’s magazine even better,” PSHS senior and literary club member Mike Santini said.

The annual publication also won 15 awards from the Southwest Prairie Literary Conference for individual poems and essays submitted in the 2010 issue, including first place for personal essay and three first place awards for critical essay.

This year, Plainfield South will host the SPC Literary Festival on Thursday, April 14, 2011.

Members of the PSHS magazine staff begin working on "Metamorphic Expressions in Blue & White" in October. The staff meets weekly to read and decide on the poetry and art that will be included in the magazine as well as what pieces to send to the SPC Literary Festival.

Later, student staff members choose the theme, title page, layout, pieces, and design the pages, edit, and pre-sell the magazine to PSHS students and staff. It goes to press in May.

“Our top priority is to continue our hard work and make the magazine even better than last year,” Brown said.  “We think we have decided on a theme for this year’s magazine, so now it is a matter of recruiting artists and starting to put together some pages,” she said.

“Our goals for the current issue are to cover a wide variety of themes, elements, and students,” PSHS senior and literary magazine club member Miranda James said. 

“We also want to be as successful as last year and provide a compilation of well written work, enjoyable for both the students and community of District 202,” James said.

“The students put so much time and energy into putting together the magazine,” Brown said.  “It really is their creation, so it is something that they can hold onto for years after high school as a reminder of this group that they love being a part of.”