Penn literary magazine Spectrum wins highest honor from NCTE

The Penn High School student literary magazine, Spectrum, has won the highest honor for recognizing excellence in Art and Literary magazines from the National Council of Teachers of English.

Spectrum is published under the direction of Penn instructor Caelea Armstrong.

Editors of the 2022-2023 Spectrum Literary Magazine were Valentina Gianesi (graduated), Monique Caraman (graduated), Lauren Turnquist, Natalie Reed and Michael Mireles.

“Spectrum has been a literary publication at Penn High School since at least the 1988-89 school year,” Armstrong said. “The mission of Spectrum is to create an outlet for student expression – written, art, and multimedia.

“Over the years, Spectrum has evolved and is now involved in creating monthly newsletters known as “The Bathroom Bulletin,” the People of Penn displays in the stairwells, and events like Reality Cafe,” Armstrong said. “Our main focus is the Spectrum Magazine, and I could not be more proud of our students on the Spectrum staff.”

This year, schools in 46 states and five countries nominated 375 student magazines. Magazines from middle school, high school, and higher education were welcomed for the 2023 contest. A total of 108 magazines were awarded the contest’s highest distinction, REALM First Class.

The REALM program publicly recognizes excellent literary magazines produced by students with the support of their teachers. REALM 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, US territories, Canada, and American schools abroad are eligible to nominate magazines.

For more information about the REALM Program, please visit: https://ncte.org/awards/program-to-
recognize-in-student-literary-magazines/.