Emerge Magazine wins prestigious Gold Crown Award from Columbia University

Emerge Magazine cover

For the sixth consecutive year, Emerge Magazine has won a prestigious Gold Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA).

The 2018 magazine, produced entirely by UofGH Media Studies students, won in the Hybrid General Magazine category, which includes the Emerge print magazine, web magazine, InstaZine, multimedia and newsletter projects. Judges evaluate excellence in design, photography, concept, coverage and writing. The Gold Crown is the top honour awarded by CSPA.

Rather than a traditional consumer magazine, the 2018 Emerge project is a custom content, multi-platform, dual-sided publication with the magazine on one side, and the Emerge Conference and Media Awards program on the other side of the print magazine. Kimberley Noble, journalism faculty advisor, says Emerge has evolved with the changing media landscape.

“We’ve looked at where people in the industry use print, where they use digital, where they use social media, and what projects will be the most useful and inspiring for our students,” she says. “Instead of a traditional consumer magazine, it’s a smaller, standalone publication that is purpose-driven in some way and reflects the goals of a client or an event. We produce the magazine for the Emerge Media Awards, but it also includes editorial content so it’s interesting to the reader.” In addition to Noble, the magazine projects were overseen by resource instructors Laura Arsie (photography); Norm Lourenco (print design) and Marc Tavares (digital media).

The judges’ comments praised both the magazine as a whole, and the individual contributions. “Emerge magazine gets it when it comes to digital journalism. The website covers lots of the normal fare, but it also offers its visitors much more,” read the judges’ comment. “An exceptional piece of storytelling on what it means to be Canadian becomes an experience as it offers dynamic illustrations, podcasts, flowing stories, videos, and more (Think “Snowfall").”

Judges also complimented the students’ work in packaging the stories effectively. “Another online page shares the story of a young entrepreneur who wants to help erase the stigma of the hijab by creating a fashion line of articles with cool graphics of women proudly wearing their scarves,” the judges’ comment continues. “Along with the main story, readers get a sidebar, a pull quote, an illustration, two photos, and a video. This is what packaging the news is all about, and it is done well here.”

The print publication was singled out for its engaging stories. “Two print stories are notable for their focus on the personal stories of two women: one who shared her difficulty of, even now, trying to make it in a male-dominated STEM field, and one, a graduate, who struggled with a traumatic childhood, abusive relations, addictions, and single motherhood and has survived. Both are compelling stories that keep readers engaged.”

Since its launch, Emerge has won more than 130 international awards, including two Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) Pacemaker Awards, a first-place College Media Association (CMA) Pinnacle Award, and various Columbia Scholastic Press awards, including the Gold Crown. Emerge was also the first Canadian college/university publication to win Gold Crown Award.

“It's pretty incredible to be recognized with this award and it's a testament to the amount of work everyone on the team put forth to assemble this magazine,” says UofGH Media Studies alumnus Warren Schlote, co-editor in chief for the 2018 Emerge Magazine. “It's truly an honour to have worked with so many of the University of Guelph-Humber's finest on this project of which we can all be proud.”

“The students impress us with what they do each year,” says Noble. “The fact that six years in a row we have produced a package of media work that is judged to be at that level of excellence, I’m always very pleased.”

Schlote says that each class brings its own unique perspective to the Emerge project.

“[Each year is] fundamentally different and that's part of the beauty of Emerge. Until the events draw to a close or until the final words are published, there's no telling just what University of Guelph-Humber students will create next,” he says.

The University of Guelph-Humber also presented the Emerge Media Awards on April 4, which award excellence in student media from post-secondary institutions across Canada.