Vernon literary magazine earns a gold

VERNON - The Back Porch Review, Vernon Township High School’s literary art journal, has earned a Gold Medal for the fourth year in a row from the Columbia University Scholastic Press competition, a division of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. But this time, the journal merited a perfect score in one category and a near perfect score in three of the four remaining categories. Gold Medals were awarded to publications that earned between 925 and 1,000 points. Vernon Township High School earned 994 points. The Back Porch Review, which has been published for years by Marjorie Huhn and her creative writing class, is accustomed to winning Gold Medals. The literary journal features student and faculty poetry, fiction, photos and artwork and is designed around a theme selected by the editorial staff each year. By tradition, the front and back covers always feature a creative photo of some porch, usually obscure and unique, that the staff discovers. The editors of this latest award-winning edition have graduated and a new staff is preparing to fill some pretty big literary shoes. Last year’s winning staff includes: Sara Cohen, editor-in-chief; Caitlin Imbimbo, art editor; Steevi Brandt and Raymond Loughren, copy editors; Matthew Ceurvels, managing editor; Kayla Marchioni, assistant to the editors; Nicole Kowalczyk, assistant to the art editor. Matthew Clarkin, who is this year’s journal editor, took the cover photos for last year’s winning entry.