by Elise Goitia '18

Knox College's award-winning literary magazine, Catch, is one of the five undergraduate magazine finalists for the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) 2015 Magazine Pacemaker Award.

The award, given annually since 1927, is considered one of the highest national honors in the field of student journalism. Finalists are chosen from competitively established journals from across the nation.

"I think it shows something about the hard work the editors and staff members put in, (and) also the quality of work that we receive from students all over campus," said Catch's faculty advisor Chad Simpson. "It's pretty awesome that a school with about 1,400 students has enough quality work to compete with schools that have many more students."

The other finalists were The Dulcimer from Mercer University, The Bridge from Bridgewater State University, and Conceptions Southwest and Scribendi from University of New Mexico.

Catch is a completely student-run magazine that has been continuously published at Knox for more than 100 years. Meant to invoke undergraduate creativity, Catch encourages students to exhibit their artfulness in a variety of mediums, from poetry to mathematical proofs.

"I think one of the great things about Catch is that everything in there comes straight from the student body," added Simpson, associate professor of English.

In the past, Catch has garnered such awards as the National Collegiate Championship Literary Magazine Director's Prize from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs in 2003, the 2014 National Program Directors' Prize from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, and the International Pacemaker Award from ACP in 2008, 2005, and 2003.

When the 2014 winter edition of Catch was submitted for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs prize last year, the contest's judge, David Jauss, e-mailed Simpson about certain pieces.

"He asked me to get in touch with the authors and let them know that he teaches an MFA program and would love to have them apply someday," said Simpson. "One of the things the contests allow us to do is to get the work into the hands of people who can see what we're doing here at Knox."