Magazine Students Win Five Awards at AEJMC

By Brenda Escobar

Columbia, Mo. (Aug. 29, 2006) — Vox magazine and a magazine publishing class took home five awards in the 2006 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Student Magazine Contest. The awards were presented during a special ceremony at the group’s annual meeting held recently in San Francisco.

Vox magazine won first place in the general excellence category, a third place in the editorial and first person categories and an honorable mention in design. Jennifer Moeller serves as the publication’s editorial director.

A magazine publishing class taught by John Fennell received a third place for their prototype of a new magazine, Loaf.

“As I witnessed the passion and hard work that went into its creation, I became convinced — and still am — that this idea has commercial potential. It is so fresh, so real,” said Fennell. “The amazing students I have helped make me a believer that Mizzou has some of the most talented young journalists in the country.”

This year’s competition attracted 214 entries from 22 universities in the U.S. and Canada. Judges for the contest, which included 11 categories, were publishers, editors and writers for consumer and specialized business magazines.

The challenge of the assignment makes the win especially meaningful for Becca Eden, one of the student winners who worked on Loaf.

“Coming up with any new product is a very difficult process, especially when there are multiple views on how to do something. However, our team worked very well together,” she said. “It’s nice to have some validation of our work.”

The 2006 AEJMC Student Magazine Contest categories and winners are:

Single Issue of an Ongoing Print Magazine: General Excellence
First Place: Vox, Melissa Maynard, editor.
Consumer Magazine Article: First Person
Third Place: “Heartbeat Away,” by Leslie Yingling.
Single Issue of an Ongoing Print Magazine: Editorial
Third Place: Vox, Mark Stagle, editor.
Single Issue of an Ongoing Print Magazine: Design
Honorable Mention: Vox, Katie Pollock, editor, Kari Engel and Renata Turk, art directors.
Start-Up Magazine Project: Team
Third Place: Loaf, Jay Kirby, Becca Eden, Erika Meeker, Aaron Richter.