CROWN AWARD

Rebel recognized for excellence

Creech

Rebel Magazine, East Carolina University’s student media literary arts publication, is being honored by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association with its Crown Award, which recognizes overall excellence in print and online publications.

The editor, Anna Vaughn Creech of Tarboro, will be presented the award during the College Media Convention in Manhattan March 18-20. 

The student run magazine’s 53rd edition was one of 15 nationwide collegiate magazines selected for the award. More than 1,300 print newspapers, magazines and yearbooks published during the 2010-2011 academic year were eligible for the 2012 Crown Awards program.

Nine newspapers and 13 yearbooks from across the country were also selected as Crown finalists.

“Bringing Rebel 53 into fruition required a lot of investment, so I think I can speak for the entire staff when I say that receiving such a prestigious award significantly heightens the sense of accomplishment we already feel,” said Creech, editor of the 53rd edition of Rebel. 

The magazine’s theme was “illumination.” The staff wanted the book to represent more than just the great student work featured in it; they wanted it to serve as a means of awareness for heavy issues in the world such as poverty and disease, said Creech. 

Creech, a graphic design major who graduated May 2011, was encouraged by a few of her professors to pursue the position of editor.  

“I decided to apply because I was aware of Rebel’s award-winning track record and how valuable the experience would be,” she said. 

After graduation, Creech returned to her hometown of Tarboro where she is the communication director for a new K-8 charter school, North East Carolina Prep, which will open in August. It will be the first charter school in Edgecombe County. Creech also works as a freelance designer. 

The Rebel first appeared in 1958 and received an All-American Honor Rating from the Associated Collegiate Press in 1962. Since then, it has received nine Associated Collegiate Press Magazine Pacemaker awards and was named one of the three best literary magazines in the nation. This is the first Crown Award for the Rebel. 

“Rebel winning the Crown Award means ‘mission accomplished’ for student media,” said administrative support associate for ECU’s student media, Yvonne Moye. The award serves as both a sense of accomplishment for those involved and as a model for incoming students, she said. 

The 54th edition of Rebel, spearheaded by editor Phillip Winn, is in production and will be released at Barefoot on the Mall in April. 

In addition to Rebel, the ECU office of Student Media oversees the production of ECU’s student-run yearbook Buccaneer and newspaper The East Carolinian. For more details about ECU Student Media, visit www.ecu.edu/studentmedia.