LBHS Literary Mag Tops in National, State Competitions

Story by Rosemary Leonetti.

Writers and editors of the Long Beach High School literary magazine Fragments have won top honors at four major national and state scholastic press competitions. At the national level, Fragments earned the title of Highest Award from the National Council of Teachers of English, making it the top ranked high school literary magazine in New York State. This is the third consecutive year that Fragments was designated as Nominated for Highest Award, but the first time that the publication has earned this top honor.

Fragments also received a Gold Medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, a First Place with Special Merit Award from the American Scholastic Press Association, plus a Gold All New York Award, as well as a Gold Overall Award for originality, from the Empire State Scholastic Press Association.

In addition, the Fragments staff also received a total of 29 awards in the ESSPA competition, including a Gold All New York Award and a Gold Overall Award for originality, plus a total of five gold, five silver, ten bronze and seven honorable mention awards in individual categories including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, specialized content, artwork/illustration, cover design, layout, photography and use of type/image.

Individual Gold awards went to Eileen Kelly for both cover design and layout, Alexis Romano for photography, and Sophie Torres and Lauren Librizzi for specialized content. Silver awards were earned by Rebecca Spodick for artwork/illustration, Grace Smith for fiction, and both Emily Charleson and Spodick  for specialized content. Bronze awards were received by Alexa Salazar and Michelle Bello for artwork/illustration; Scott Blumenfeld for photography; Haily Hamias and Roxette Romanes for poetry; Kelly for use of type/image; Salazar for nonfiction; and Eric Antorbeza, Charleson and Ambrose Plante for specialized content. Receiving honorable mention awards were Spodick for both artwork illustration and photography, Ethan Sukonik for artwork/illustration,  Romano for poetry, and Plante and Julia Sevilla for specialized content.

Students edit and write for Fragments as part of the high school’s Talented Writers program, taught by Koegel. In addition, staff members put in countless after school hours editing the publication. Submissions are also accepted from students in a number of other writing and art classes offered at the high school. Over the years, Fragments writers, editors and artists have consistently won top awards at national and state competitions for their work.

“Our students are outstanding writers who are dedicated to their craft and take risks to create works that are not always popular,” said Koegel. “It is wonderful for them to be applauded by writers and teachers of English who recognize their outstanding skills.”