SCC student publication wins national award in literary magazine competition

Spindrift, Shoreline Community College's student literary magazine, has received national acclaim.

The magazine took second-place in the Western Pacific Division of the Community College Humanities Association annual literary magazine competition, second only to the national award winning American River Review from Sacramento, California.

Spindrift is an art and literary journal created by Shoreline students from submissions by students, staff, faculty and community members. The staff take artwork submitted through the year, then display it in a show. They collect input on what should be included, then compile it into one publication.

The group faced a few extra challenges this year, including losing the managing editor to illness and the art and layout assistant to another job.

“I was really nervous after we lost our managing editor to a pretty bad illness,” Sean Rody, Shoreline faculty member and Spindrift advisor said. “But, Tara Reynolds stepped up and did a fantastic job. She showed a great deal of leadership and really took control.”

Reynolds was the literary editor before taking on the managing editor role. 

“Despite having a shifting staff, they all worked really hard to get it together and it looks fantastic,” Rody said. “After the release party, you could just tell that they were so joyful.”

Rody said the group approached him about submitting this edition to the competition and he knew it had a shot at winning. He said he really liked how the staff of this edition juxtaposed the literary arts with the visual arts. 

“They tried to steer clear of the obvious connections like a photo of a dog with a story about a dog,” Rody said. “They went with more subtle and sublime ways of pairing the works.”

In order to do this, Reynolds had the idea to lay out all of the visual art pieces around the room. Then they would read a poem or a story and each person would pick something out that they felt matched visually and discuss why. Rody said he felt that process was a big part of helping them win the award. 

“We never know for sure how we will do in competitions,” Chuck Schultz, Shoreline faculty member and advisor said. “The students do the heavy lifting and make the toughest decisions regarding design and choosing which stories and poems go in.”

This year the students honored Shoreline faculty member Troy Wolff, who was killed in a random attack, by republishing a short story of his. There is also a memoriam for other faculty that passed away over the past year. 

Spindrift won the top literary magazine award in 2009 and 2010 and has been published since 1966.

“It’s really important that it be a learning process for the students,” Schultz said. “Winning competitions is just a bonus.”