MassBay Community College Literary Magazine, lumière, Awarded Second Place for Literary Magazine of the Year for Two-Year Colleges

lumière, the literary magazine of MassBay Community College, has been awarded second place for Literary Magazine of the Year for two-year colleges by the national College Media Association Pinnacle Awards. In September, four colleges were named finalists, and last week MassBay was honored at the annual College Media Association Pinnacle conference, MediaFest25, with its second-place award.

Guided by the expertise of MassBay English professor Matt Walsh, lumière has been illuminating exceptional writing, photography, and artwork from students, faculty, and staff since the magazine’s inception in 2016. This year’s edition, lumière’s 10^th, was led by editors-in-chief Brooke Richey and Dani Joseph and students in MassBay’s Advanced Writing class.

According to the College Media Association website, the Pinnacle Awards are the organization’s flagship national honors, recognizing the best student work in collegiate journalism, media production, and organizational excellence. Winners are selected by a panel of experienced media professors and educators. The 2025 Pinnacle Awards were presented at MediaFest25, held Oct. 16-18 in Washington, D.C. This year, a total of 3,358 entries were submitted, with 1,165 finalists selected across eight categories.

“This is when we need art most, when we need the artists within ourselves most,” said MassBay English professor and faculty advisor of lumière Matt Walsh, who emphasized the organic, community-based nature of the magazine. “Students design their own marketing materials and submissions campaigns. They establish a respectful and consistent editorial process for reviewing work, and they build their design skills developing the website and print edition. Staff members have gone on to enter graduate programs in creative writing, to win various awards for their work, to work in publishing, to teach, and to do many other worthwhile things that require paying close attention.”

Launched in 2016 by Professor Walsh and students Diego Rocha and Joshua Klein, lumière has earned multiple awards to date. In 2018, lumière placed second and in 2019 secured third place 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. In April 2025, lumière was honored with the National Council of Teachers of English prestigious rank of First Class in their Recognizing Excellence in Arts and Literary Magazines (REALM) and in 2024 lumière captured a REALM Superior ranking.

To read the most recent editions of lumière, please visit https://www.lumierelitmag.com.