Photo by: Abby Bellow
Soundings, Oklahoma Christian University’s literary and creative arts journal, hosted their annual unveiling event on April 3.
“We have this [event] every year in April,” senior Shelly Welch said before the unveiling. “This is just a way for us to get all our supporters and everyone who contributed to the journal; really anyone who wants to come and be a part of this and be here at the same time when we bring out our freshly printed journals.”
Soundings displays literary and artistic talent by giving students, faculty, and alumni the opportunity to present their pieces in a published, nationally-recognized journal.
“Much like Spring Sing and the Opera Scenes, it is a chance for writers, photographers and artists to demonstrate their ability in a different type of performance,” junior Jonathan Scheppegrell said. “It’s a visual representation or written representation of the emotions that they feel in the time that they wrote their piece.”
According to Welch, the PR director for Soundings, and Scheppegrell, the associate events coordinator, the official unveiling of the journal was a success.
“We had a lot of people there,” Scheppegrell said. “This year we sent out personalized invitations to everyone who was in the journal … one of the best parts about the event is that it brings alumni … from any department that was associated with the journal. It gives them a chance to come and see their work but also the work of what’s been going on in the department since they have left. It was a great success, it looked fantastic, and it was a great opportunity to work with such great editors.”
The staff divided submissions into four categories: prose, poetry, critical essays and visual works. All submissions were judged anonymously by Soundings staff and nationally acclaimed individuals.
Naomi Benaron, author of Running the Rift and speaker at the 2013 McBride Lecture, judged the prose and critical pieces. Nathan Brown, the Oklahoma state poet laureate, judged the poetry pieces and graphic designer Emily Vino judged the visual submissions.
“We were very fortunate to get such great, well-known judges to judge our publication,” Welch said.
In addition to a select number being chosen to have their work in the journal, four rankings in each section further distinguished a few individuals.
The four first-place winners were junior Cody Kapocsi, senior Jason Brunner, junior Kallista Kidd and senior Holly Hodge. These students were awarded grand prize of $100.
Senior Julie Drohan, senior Lane Robles and senior Leah Jorgensen placed second and won $50.
The third place winners, who received $15, are as follows: senior Kristine Pike, junior Sarah Redding and senior Hayley Fisher.
Senior Stanton Yeakley, sophomore Paige Brown, Robles, junior Zachary Shaffer, alumna Laura Hernandez, Fisher and sophomore Marissa Madison were distinguished as honorable mentions.
According to Associate Professor of Language and Literature Rebecca Briley, Soundings serves students in a variety of ways.
“I think [Soundings] does so much in so many different ways,” Briley said. “If you serve on Soundings you get to learn skills and use talents that you have in everything … there are a lot of different skills that you can develop there.”
The Soundings staff encouraged anyone interested in working with the program next year, as they are now accepting applications for next year’s staff. Applications are available at the English department’s front desk.
“I would definitely recommend freshmen who are able to,” Welch said. “[It demonstrates] how publishing a book actually works, or for the PR side of things how promoting it works, or for the design side of things how designing it works. But we would be just as happy for someone who is a senior to get involved with it for the first time, or a junior or sophomore.”
Though not every piece will be accepted, everyone – students, faculty, staff and alumni – are encouraged to submit.
“I would definitely recommend people to submit,” Scheppegrell said. “Don’t let the fear of rejection hold you back, because if I had done that I wouldn’t have submitted and I wouldn’t have gotten criticism on where to go with my pieces, or to get help on making changes to my poetry or my prose. I always encourage writers to just take that leap of faith even if they feel that it’s bad. As writers, our worst critics are ourselves.”
0
0
Be First to Comment