50th Anniversary Edition Of Student Publication Wins Silver Crown

Brookdale Community College’s 50th Anniversary edition of Collage, a magazine that showcases the best art, design, and literary work by Brookdale students, was awarded the Silver Crown Award for 2021 from Columbia University Press Association (CPSA). The Crown Awards honor top student publications chosen from CSPA’s members. Crowns are selected for overall excellence in a head-to-head comparison. During Crown consideration, publications are judged on their excellence, as shown by their design, photography, concept, coverage, and writing. A total of 852 publications were eligible for judging this year. As a result, there were 16 gold awards and 28 silver awards.

“The 50^th anniversary edition of Collage was this great interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Collage’s Art and Design faculty advisor, Elisa Elorza. “The students absolutely deserved to win what it did. It is one of the strongest books that I have ever seen a college put out.”

In this momentous edition of the magazine, Collage members demonstrate how students from diverse disciplines can come together to create an unexpectedly beautiful publication to celebrate 50 years of this most valued tradition.

Students from the Architecture Department plotted lines on a map of the main campus in Lincroft, NJ, to design the cover, creating an interesting and meaningful line set that connected different buildings. In addition, the Graphic Design students worked to digitize and glitch oil paintings completed by Fine Arts and Physics students. Organizing these elements to design the cover was the datum for the overall magazine.

Justyn Morris, an education major and graphic design student, was instrumental to this publication and is the focus of the student spotlight in the magazine. Interviewed by Jada Morris, she wrote, “This multimedia and multi-talented artist, Justyn Morris, has a unique style that refuses to be boxed into just one style. He has tested the waters and gained experience in many forms of expression, which include photography, fine art, graphic design, and poetry.” “I enjoy all mediums equally because they allow me to express myself however I feel in the moment with whatever I feel like doing,” said Justyn in the interview.

The Crown Awards are considered at Columbia by panels of invited judges working in small groups to review each publication from among those entries submitted.

Judging for a “top-down” view of general excellence, the panel included: Jenny Dial Creech, managing editor, The Athletic Houston; Monica Hill, director of North Carolina Scholastic Media Association (NCSMA), Chapel Hill, NC; Kevin Lerner, Assistant Professor of Communication/Journalism at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY; Alan Murray, president and co-founder of Uncharted, Malvern, PA; Mark Murray, executive director, ATPI, Sante Fe, NM, among others.

The Club of Collage a diverse student team that produces the magazine annually. Students gain valuable skills in editing, book design, and desktop publishing during Collage production. Submissions for Collage are accepted throughout the academic year, with each edition’s layouts finalized during the Spring Semester. Submissions may be in, but are not limited to, the following areas, writing (poetry, essay, short story, drama) and visual artwork (photography, graphic and interior design, architectural design, drawing and painting, sculpture and ceramics, jewelry, digital art, and 3D modeling). For submission guidelines, visit brookdalecc.edu/collage/ or email brookdalecollage@gmail.com.