MassBay Literary Magazine and Students Earn National Awards

lumière, the literary magazine of MassBay Community College, has been awarded the prestigious rank of First Class from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in their 2025 Recognizing Excellence in Arts and Literary Magazines (REALM) contest. This year, schools in 46 states and five countries nominated 456 student magazines from middle school, high school, and higher education institutions. There are 135 magazines that were awarded the contest’s highest distinction, REALM First Class. Guided by MassBay English professor Matt Walsh, lumière has been showcasing exceptional creative writing, photos, and artwork from its students, faculty, and staff since the magazine’s inception in 2016.

The REALM program publicly recognizes outstanding 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.

“Our most recent publication, Issue 10, meant a great deal to the lumière staff,” said English Professor and magazine faculty advisor Matt Walsh. “While we were in production, Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was taken into custody. Our staff was very aware that words have consequences, that art matters, and we were driven by a strong sense of mission to make these voices heard. We have found joy in celebrating our distinct differences as well as our shared passions, and we call on everyone to nurture their creative selves and to share your work with others.”

In addition to the REALM recognition, four MassBay students and their work in the most recent issue of lumière received honors from the Community College Humanities Association’s 2025 National Literary Magazine Competition for best poems, best short stories, best creative nonfiction, and best essay:

• Best Poems, Eastern Division: Third Place
  • Gabriela Moreno — “Ah, the American Dream”
• Best Short Stories, Eastern Division: Second Place
  • Nick Giancioppo — The Colmery Logbook
• Best Creative Nonfiction, Eastern Division: Second Place
  • Chelsea Dow — Cape Cod Constellations
• Best Essay, Eastern Division: First Place
  • Peter Kistner — Letter to the Editor

See this award-winning work and previous issues of the magazine at the lumière website lumierelitmag.com. Students are busy working on lumière issue #11, which will be published in May 2026. For more information about lumière, please visit https://www.lumierelitmag.com or email litmag@massbay.edu.