McCallie's literary magazine wins top award

Most of The Argonaut's 2010-2011 staff has already graduated from The McCallie School, but those students' legacy will live on; the literary magazine's 2010-2011 edition recently won First Place with Special Merit from the American Scholastic Press Association.

photo The 2011-2012 staff of McCallie's literary magazine The Argonaut gathers to read submissions for this year's edition. From left are Hal Robinson, Noah Ankar, Gordon Shoots, Nick Miller, Bryan Bierly and August Kirchner. Not pictured are students Collin Smith and John Bruno and advisor Erin Tocknell.

"Winning was very exciting," said current Editor-in-Chief August Kirchner. "We had a lot of great guys on the staff last year."

The Argonaut scored 960 points out of the possible 1,000 points available and also received a perfect score in the design and presentation categories, he said.

According to Kirchner, the content of the magazine is what he thinks sets it apart from other magazines around the country.

In addition to the overall win, E.J. Quijano received the Best Story award for his work of fiction titled "Waves."

"We like to look for pieces that are going to really represent McCallie in a good way and show the caliber of writers we have here," said Kirchner of the selection process.

As the magazine moves to an online format this year and the staff is made up of mostly new members, Kirchner said he hopes the publication will win recognition again this year, but his only goal is for staff to make the magazine the best they possibly can.

"It would be nice to get to [win] again, but we're still doing pretty much the same thing as usual and making sure to keep our heads to the ground," he said.

Faculty advisor Erin Tocknell agreed with Kirchner's attitude about moving forward.

"It would be awesome to build on that success, but every year is different and has its own set of merits and challenges," she said.

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