Drake Wins Another Pacemaker

Drake walked away with another Pacemaker this year—for Drake Magazine. The judges were complimentary about Drake Mag, of course,  but also made some great comments about Think. You can read details here. Some excerpts:

Drake Magazine, Drake University School of Journalism. Of the many good magazines I saw, this one had a sophistication and comprehension of magazine structure and design that were not equaled elsewhere. The cover, a simple but elegant graphic based on words and a geometric background, was inviting and clear. The index, on a two page spread, echoed the cover graphic, and elegantly presented the total contents — front of the book, well, and back of the book — in clear and size-appropriate order, with the four well stories visually predominant but the other elements quickly grasped, and easily found in the magazine itself. At least one of the well stories was a new and surprising subject to me: diabulemia, in which diabetics forgo insulin injections in order to lose weight. A fashion/cultural comment feature called Girls Gone Mild (a bit of a cliché in a headline these days) was fun and interesting. A piece on on-line universities was informative. And the fourth well piece, on video games, took a sharp look at their impact on study habits. I was especially impressed by the attention given to the front and back of the book sections, and by the elegant transitions between these sections. Bits & Pieces offered cultural observations, a brief book review, news snippets (a story about how hedgehog safety resulted in a safer McFlurry container) and other short items. The back of the book, like the front, featured a number of clever short items under catchy rubrics: Spare Change (stories about personal finance), Folks, Say What (an article about students experimenting with a robot baby, as a family planning exercise). Photographs throughout were fine, though this was not the magazine’s strongest element. But altogether a really impressive effort, beautifully designed, with a coherent clear editorial mission.

Think. Drake University. There were three good entries from Drake, but I was impressed by the unabashed advocacy in this one. The issue includes a surprisingly opinionated editorial letter on the need for America to get back in touch with the world. This viewpoint is carried out in the articles, book reviews, short takes on consumer buying and global responsibility. It’s not to everyone’s political taste, but I admired the forthrightness of it.