lumière, the literary magazine of MassBay Community College, has been awarded the prestigious rank of Superior from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in their 2023 Recognizing Excellence in Arts and Literary Magazines (REALM) contest. This year, schools in 46 states and five countries nominated 375 student magazines from middle school, high school, and higher education institutions. Guided by the expertise of MassBay English professor Matt Walsh, lumière has been illuminating exceptional creative writing, illustrations, photos, and artwork from its students, faculty, and staff since the magazine’s inception in 2016.
The REALM program publicly recognizes excellent literary magazines produced by students with the support of their teachers and professors. REALM is designed to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines that celebrate the art and craft of writing. Schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, Canada, and American schools abroad are eligible to submit their magazines for entry.
“Working with students in EN202: Advanced Writing and with lumière staff of all majors has become a real highlight for me,” said MassBay English Department Chair and faculty advisory of lumière Matt Walsh. “Students design their own marketing materials and social media campaigns to solicit submissions, establish a respectful and consistent editorial process for reviewing work, and strengthen their layout and design skills developing the lumière website and print edition. Former staff members have gone on to enter MFA programs, to publish original work, and to serve as editors of a number of literary magazines. Best of all, lumière showcases the breadth and depth of our community in all of its various fonts, apertures, and brushstrokes.”
Launched in 2016 by Professor Walsh and students Diego Rocha and Joshua Klein, lumière has earned multiple awards to date. In 2019, lumière secured third place and in 2018 placed second in the Community College Humanities Association 2019 National Literary Magazine Competition for small colleges in the Eastern Division. In 2023, MassBay students earned first place in the categories of short fiction and song lyrics.
“Working on lumière with everyone was a really fulfilling experience that taught me a lot about the value of collaboration, and what one class can accomplish when working together,” said MassBay alum and current Lasell University Criminal Justice major Ness Epshteyn. Ness took home the Eastern Division gold with his short story “The Bridge.” “I am incredibly proud of the magazine, and absolutely blown away at the fact that I won this award! It’s an honor, and it came as a surprise since I was writing about a topic really personal to me and didn’t expect it to resonate with others as much as it did. Thank you!”
Students are already busy working on the next issue of lumière and ask anyone interested in submitting their creative work to email submissions to litmag@massbay.edu. To view previous issues of lumière, visit www.lumierelitmag.com.
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