Outcroppings Wins National Award…Again!
By Suzanne Morrissey
For the second year in a row Brewster’s literary magazine, Outcroppings, has been recognized as a REALM First Class magazine by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Schools in 46 states and five countries nominated 422 student magazines from middle school, high school, and higher education. Just 125 magazines were awarded the contest’s highest distinction, REALM First Class—and Brewster’s magazine is the only publication in the state of New Hampshire to earn that top distinction. (See the lineup of state winners here.)
The winning issue, published in Spring 2024, was created by Editor in Chief Liam Fahey ’24 (of Wakefield, N.H., now studying at Boston University), Art Editor Logan Cliche ’25 (A Curvey Scholar from Alton, N.H. who serves as the editor this year), and Contributing Editor Audrey Burke ’24 (of Wellesley, Mass. who now attends Fairfield), all under the mentorship of advisor Jen Dumont, Brewster’s Director of Library Services.
“Editor Liam Fahey had a big challenge to meet: surpassing the artistry and success of the previous year’s issue, which also won the REALM award,” Ms. Dumont said. “He imbued his own work into many aspects of the magazine: For example, we see photos of his capstone project as an art scholar. Following the example of the editors from the last several years, he created the cover himself, carving the designs into rubber stamps and experimenting with different color ways before settling on the final image. I think this kind of unique, creative work is part of why we earned this honor.”
“I am so proud of Liam, Logan and Audrey, and the hard work they put into this issue. And I am so proud to showcase the creative spirit that is alive and well at Brewster. I hope that this award, and the recognition that comes with it, will encourage other students to submit their work and share their gifts!” Ms. Dumont said.
You can read the award-winning issue online here, and enjoy dozens of poems, photos, short stories, and more. The next issue of Outcroppings will be its 46th volume, coming out in Spring 2025.
The REALM program publicly recognizes excellent literary magazines produced by students with the support of their teachers. REALM, which stands for Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines, is designed to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines that celebrate the art and craft of writing. Schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, Canada, and American schools abroad are eligible to nominate magazines. The NCTE is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. As the nation’s oldest organization of pre-K through graduate school literacy educators, NCTE has a rich history of deriving expertise and advocacy from its members’ professional research, practice, and knowledge. NCTE is the home of the Intellectual Freedom Center, the National Day on Writing, ReadWriteThink.org, the Build Your Stack initiative, and NCTE Verse. NCTE supports nearly 20,000 teachers across the preK–college spectrum.
