In the Fall, our editorial team here in the Office of University Communications received exciting news: the magazine had been nominated for four Folio magazine awards.
We trekked up to New York City, where we met other nominees and colleagues from titles I’ve read, admired, and studied from cover to cover – National Geographic, Food & Wine, Forbes, Variety, People, Better Homes & Gardens, and AARP – as well as publications from other universities, such as Harvard, Columbia, University of Illinois, and University of Virginia.
That night, we won awards in the three categories: best redesign; best cover for our Spring 2021 issue, featuring Kamala Harris, which was designed by Seattle Ellison (BFA ’17); and best single article for the feature “Using Trial to Overcome Tribulation” by writer Katti Gray about Howard’s vaccine trials. We also received an honorable mention in the best profile category for our tribute to Vernon Jordan, written by staffer Seth Shapiro.
Receiving the awards meant that Howard competes – and succeeds – on a national level (“international,” technically, since there were some Canadian magazines present, too). As a university, we are already receiving much recognition for our achievements, and the magazine, too, continues to receive recognition as a vehicle for sharing those achievements with a greater audience. We recently introduced two new vehicles: the magazine’s digital version, which comes with interactive multimedia, and The Dig, which is Howard’s new information and news website.
The real awards, however, are the correspondence I receive daily from the Howard community and beyond. Phone calls, emails, letters, packages, texts, and even in-person visits fill my day, with people offering everything from tidbits they read somewhere to timely and important topics. Our readers clearly recognize the value of Howard Magazine and want to help make it even better with each issue. For that, I am very proud.
If you haven’t already, please feel free to reach out to us if you have any ideas or even if you just want to chat. We also welcome any feedback and suggestions about the magazine. You can reach us at magazine@howard.edu. Thank you for sharing and reading these amazing and, in my mind, always award-winning Bison stories.
Happy Winter,
Rin-rin Yu, Editor-in-Chief
Article ID: 741