Photograph courtesy of Cutler Publications
Colorado College’s Cipher magazine has been nominated as a finalist in the feature magazine category to receive the Pacemaker Award. The National Pacemaker Awards acknowledge excellence in American student journalism and are generally considered to be the highest national honors in their field.
The awards are unofficially known as the “Pulitzer Prizes of student journalism.” Cipher received the award in 2012 and, according to the editor-in-chief, is considered for nomination most years. This time, Cipher is nominated for its Block 8 2015 issue, “Bones.”
“I’m so proud of ‘Bones,’” said former editor-in-chief and junior Anna Cain. “It’s a more slippery theme then some of our usual ones (Food, Green, Uncensored, etc). People took the theme in so many different ways: anatomy, horror, structure. We got a mix of well-researched exposés, heart-wrenching personal narratives, and quite a few random articles that turned out to be total hits.”
“I wrote an article about playing dominoes with strangers in Acacia Park,” said Nathan Davis, a sophomore and current editor. “The overall issue reveals how vast the interpretation of the theme can be. The willingness of the Cipher to include my piece reveals how many perspectives they look for.”
According to some, the Cipher fulfils a special role on campus.
“We’ve had articles that try to galvanize a community for social change, articles that reveal deeply personal and moving aspects of their writer’s lives, and articles that attempt to expose wrong-doing in the CC community and administration,” said Cain. “We like to see ourselves as a watchdog, but many of our readers and writers see us a place to tell painful but vital stories—we are equally comfortable in either role.”
“On campus, it is an outlet for students to write creativity through non-fiction, of which there are very few opportunities,” said Davis.
Writing and editing for the Cipher provides CC students with a vast array of incredible experiences.
“There are so few restrictions on how you can write,” said Davis. “It provides a great opportunity to write longer, more in-depth pieces that don’t necessarily have to be about CC related issues.”
“Cipher articles tend to be longer than typical journalism pieces,” said Cain. “Some writers find this intimidating at first, but I believe this allows them the chance to really dig into a topic.”
“I’ve always enjoyed the highly collaborative Cipher writing process,” continued Cain. “Editors are not distant beings who mark-up drafts in red. We meet with all of our writers at least twice—once to brainstorm sources and directions for the piece, and once or twice to personally go over the corrections we’ve made. This not only brings up quirky directions for the piece, but lets us get to know our writers on a personal level.”
The awards ceremony takes place Oct. 31, and Cain said she hopes to fly to Austin, Tex., with fellow staff members and current co-editors-in-chief Hannah Fleming ’17 and Charlie Theobald ’17 to attend. The Cipher’s “Bones” issue can be read online at http://ciphermagazine.com/.
Helen Griffiths
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