The 2023 edition of the annual literary journal, entitled “Born Again” and edited and published by Whittier College students, was selected as the second-place winner of the Outstanding Literary Arts Journal Award from the national English honorary society Sigma Tau Delta, whose Whittier College chapter assists in publishing the journal. The award includes a $400 prize for the chapter.
In a class taught by Lecturer of English and Journalism Joe Donnelly, students comb through blind submissions of poems, short stories, photographs, and essays on a wide variety of topics and curate the best for the journal. They are then edited and laid out by the design, fonts, and style crafted by the students. Lastly, roughly 200 copies are printed for students to enjoy.
“The Greenleaf Review is so reflective of the strengths of the College, and I'm really excited that it was seen and recognized in this way,” Donnelly said. “I do think the publication reflects the best of Whittier College in terms of its grit and its creativity.”
Third-year student Julia Centeno of Whittier, a double major in English and graphic design, served as art director for The Greenleaf Review. Though she began her time at the College studying chemistry, she is glad she decided to pursue her passions and got to see the hard work pay off.
“I'm really grateful for the opportunity to work on the magazine,” Centeno said. “It was really exciting because I feel like I pushed myself to make something really fun and engaging to look at.”
Fourth-year student Emily Henderson of La Mirada was the editor-in-chief of The Greenleaf Review, and as vice president of Sigma Tau Delta, she applied for the award.
“The Greenleaf Review was just a great experience,” Henderson said. “It's such a team effort. There's a lot of work that gets put into it.”
While the course in which students build each annual issue of The Greenleaf Review is only one semester long, its impact is far-reaching. It gave Henderson the experience to move up from deputy editor to editor-in-chief of Whittier’s student newspaper, Quaker Campus.
Donnelly said students who have taken the class or submitted pieces have gone on to get their master’s degrees in publishing, work at publications like Zyzzyva or Los Angeles Magazine, and write for outlets such as NBC4 and Boyle Heights Beat, in addition to Red Canary Magazine, where Donnelly is editor-in-chief.
“I think we can compete at a world-class level on this playing field,” Donnelly said of Whittier’s humanities courses. “I think this helps show that.”
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