The Tippecanoe High School student literary journal Inferno has been recognized as a REALM First Class magazine by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
This year, schools in 46 states and five countries nominated 375 student magazines for the Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines honors. Magazines from middle school, high school, and higher education were welcomed for the 2023 contest.
Teacher and Inferno advisor Aimee Noel is beaming with pride. Upon learning of this prestigious honor, she said, "My first thought, honestly, was, who can I tell who will know what a big deal this is?!?!?"
Noel explained that literary journals are evaluated at this national level on many criteria, including literary quality, design, layout, variety of voice and genre, and editorial vision. Because of this, it is near impossible to score above a 90 percent in all of them.
"Last year's team of talented editors and writers did exactly that. I am so proud of this publication. There are very few times in my life when I wish I had a megaphone; this was one of them."
Noel credits the strength of the program with the literary magazine's prestigious award.
"Over the years, Inferno has gained the trust of our student writers, as well as those who usually don't put pen to paper. Our editorial team last year was the ideal blend of personalities to build on this trust. They were warm, encouraging students who took risks themselves, and they were meticulous about details. This resulted in more submissions from more writers than any other year. The writing was strong and diverse - in genre, content, and voice. With that writing, the editors then created an impactful, artistically-curated journal. This publication is a campus effort, and this award belongs to all those involved."
Noel co-teaches the class with Kristen Owens. This spring will mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of Inferno.
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 can
nominate magazines.