Miami Dade College Literary Magazines And Student Newspaper Dominate At FCSPA

The Reporter and Café Cultura did something even the Miami Heat couldn’t—they captured first place four years in a row.

While Miami Dade College won’t be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, The Reporter—the college-wide newspaper at MDC—and Café Cultura—the literary magazine at Hialeah Campus—were selected as the best in the state at the Florida College System Publications Association awards banquet in Boca Raton on Oct 17.     

The Reporter was selected as the top state college newspaper and Café Cultura won top magazine in Division A.

Miambiance, the Kendall Campus magazine, also won top billing in the magazine category in Division B. Axis Magazine, the literary magazine at North Campus, tied for third place in Division B.

The competition was based on publications printed during the 2013-14 school year.   

“Students were ecstatic that their work is recognized,” said Ivonne Lamazares, co-adviser of Cafe Cultura. “The students worked extremely hard on this issue. They come after class. We really don’t have a class dedicated to the magazine, so its all on their own time and they put countless hours all year to edit, to design, and to find our photography and to choose it. It just takes countless hours but its fun. They are really passionate about it.”

The Reporter won 11 awards, including seven first-place honors . The paper has won 59 awards from the FCSPA in the past four years, including 35 first-place honors.  

Individual first-place awards in the newspaper category won by The Reporter included: Guillermo Herrera, Best News Story; Gregory Castillo, Feature Story; Amanda Aracena, Sports Writing; Aracelia Diez and Anadaniela Garcia, Design; Angela Delgado, News Photo; Irma Gutierrez and Mark Pulaski, Photo Story and Kai Sacco, Arts Review.

“Winning our fourth straight first-place award is really a testament to the blood, sweat, and tears that we, as a whole, pour into this publication,” said Mark Pulaski, the editor-in-chief of The Reporter.  “As long as we maintain the same level of commitment and desire, I foresee The Reporter being on top for years to come.”   

First-place awards in the literary magazine category (Division A) included: Bianca Rodriguez, Café Cultura, Hialeah Campus, in the Editing category and the Fiction category.

First-place awards in the literary magazine category (Division B) included: Ashley DeLeon, Bianka Dominguez, Joseph Quiroz, Miambiance, Art Works; Damarys Alvarez and Jesse Gonzalez, Miambiance, Photography; the staff of Axis, in the Contents Page category and  Staff Page category; Greg Baker, Dalia St. Louis, Allison Sardinas, Miambiance, Poetry.        

“Working closely with Miambiance students has been the most enjoyable part of my career at Miami Dade,” said Marta Magellan, the co-adviser of Miambiance. “Its a mix of teaching, writing, and seeing students succeed that has been the most satisfying.”