In its first year of eligibility, Blush, FIT’s student-produced fashion and beauty magazine, has been given a 2019 Pacemaker Award by the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP), recognizing it as one of the best college publications in the country. The Pacemaker, often called the “Pulitzer Prize of college journalism,” is awarded based on the following criteria: coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography, and graphics. The magazine was also given honorable mentions for cover design and magazine page/spread. The awards were announced Nov. 2 at the ACP’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.
Blush was one of seven magazines to win in the feature/general audience, four-year schools category. The Blush team was excited that all their hard work and long hours had paid off. “We plan to keep winning these awards,” editor in chief Nicole Plonski said.
Gary Lundgren, ACP associate director and coordinator of the Pacemaker competition, noted that the quality of the college magazines rivals that of professionally produced publications. Though print magazines in general are struggling, the number of Pacemaker entries is increasing each year, Lundgren said, “indicating that interest in magazine journalism is strong at the collegiate level.”
Founded in 2013, Blush is produced by an extracurricular organization funded by the FIT Student Government Association and is open to students from all majors. The magazine is published once a semester. The spring 2019 issue, Minimalism/Maximalism, was submitted to the ACP judging committee. Blush will release its fall 2019 issue Dec. 5.