Catch, the campus literary and arts magazine at Knox College, has been selected as a finalist in a national competition. This is the second year in a row that Catch, written and edited entirely by Knox students, has finished among the top ten literary magazines in the Pacemaker competition, sponsored by the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP).

The Pacemaker is the highest honor ACP gives to its members. A panel of professional media judges scored the magazines in all areas of production, including writing, design and editing.

The issue of Catch selected as a finalist was published in January 2004. The magazine featured fiction, non-fiction, poetry, translation, drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography and music.

"We had to come together across so many different backgrounds with varied voices and create a beautiful work of art that was better that the sum of our individual efforts," said Anya Garten, a 2004 Knox graduate and co-editor of the finalist issue with Margaret Queeney.

"Thanks to an amazing staff and the direction of our advisor, Monica Berlin, we did it not once, but twice," Garten said.

Along with Knox, the only other finalists in 2003 and again in 2004 are Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The 2004 contest drew entries from 57 other colleges and universities.

"It is a profoundly moving and eclectic issue that shows notable accomplishments across the creative arts," said Berlin, assistant professor of English and the magazine's faculty advisor. "The issue includes an arrangement of 'The Star Spangled Banner,' an essay on Chicana literature, a poetic homage to e.e. cummings, art drawn with a computer program, a work of collaborative fiction by two authors, costume designs from a theatrical production, and an incredible series of eight ceramic tiles that visually tell a very complex story," Berlin said.

Producing such a diverse publication was at times "difficult and frustrating," recalls Queeney. "What made the process worthwhile was reviewing all the creative work, collaborating with the editors, and finally producing the book itself."

"Working on Catch was a wonderfully challenging experience that only my previous years at Knox could have prepared me for," Garten said.

The 2004 Pacemaker finalist award is the fifth major recognition that Catch has received since its first national honor in 1983 from the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines. Knox is also the smallest institution among this year's Pacemaker finalists.

The finalists will be recognized at the ACP Annual Media Convention on October 29, 2005, in New Orleans.

2004 Pacemaker finalists
California Institute of Technology
Ball State University
Drake University
East Carolina University
Harvard University
Humber Institute of Technology (Canada)
Knox College
North Carolina State University
University of Oregon (two publications)

Catch Home Page

Creative Writing Program

External Site
  ACP Pacemaker Finalists