FIT’s student-run fashion and culture magazine, Blush, has won a 2020 Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press for the second year in a row. The Pacemaker, considered the “Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism,” is judged by teams of professionals based upon coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography, and graphics. In this national competition, Blush was one of nine chosen in the four-year feature magazine category.
“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” Associated Collegiate Press executive director Laura Widmer said. “ACP is honored to recognize the best of the best.”
Gary Lundgren, ACP associate director and coordinator of the Pacemaker competition, noted that the quality of the winning collegiate magazines rivals those produced by professionals. “The verbal and visual storytelling in the winning magazines is incredible and robust long-form stories combine with shorter quick-reads to pace the reader through the pages of the feature magazines,” Lundgren said.
The Blush team submitted their fall 2019 “Ferromagnetic” issue for the 2019–20 academic year. Due to the pandemic, the student organization was unable to submit a typical spring 2020 issue. Blush also won the Pacemaker in 2019, the first year they submitted an entry.
The Pacemaker awards were announced during the ACP/College Media Association Fall National College Media Convention awards ceremony, presented virtually on Oct. 22.