WWU's 'The Planet' Magazine wins two awards in national journalism contest

Western Washington University’s student-produced magazine The Planet won two awards in the 2011 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Student Magazine Contest.

The magazine’s winter 2011 issue won second place among 16 entries in the design category, and the fall 2010 issue received honorable mention in the editorial category, among 19 entries.

The judge of the competition, Andi Beierman, deputy director of Texas Monthly, commended the magazine’s use of a full-bleed cover photo of an electrical substation at night, which he described as an instant attention-grabber and an excellent way to kick off an edition devoted to power and energy.

Beierman praised the arrangement of photos and pull quotes, tied together with a well established and unifying motif of yellow bars, as well as use of grids, sidebars and infographics, among other design elements.

“In short, The Planet took a dense topic and made it engaging and accessible,” he wrote. “Basic principles of design—contrast, repetition, and hierarchy—are skillfully executed.”

Awarding The Planet the honorable mention, Beierman gave the magazine high praise for its efforts to combine environmental advocacy with journalism.

“The Planet offers up some seriously strong national, environmental writing that is still straight-forward and accessible enough for their target readership of students and staff,” he wrote. “In addition, the magazine staff has taken national topics and related them to their Pacific Northwest region in a smartly compelling way.”

The issue, under leadership of WWU journalism alumnus and Editor in Chief Mitchell Olsen and advisement of just-retired assistant professor Bill Dietrich, was designed by WWU Graphic Design alumna Laura Beggs and WWU Graphic Design student Susan Good. Good will continue working as a designer for the fall 2011 issue of The Planet.

The certificates will be presented at an awards ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12 at the AEJMC convention in St. Louis.

For more information on the contest, visit http://aejmcmagazine.arizona.edu/.

The Planet is the quarterly magazine of Western’s Huxley College of the Environment. Archived issues are available online. For more information, contact magazine adviser Rebekah Green (360) 650-2707 or rebekah.green@wwu.edu.