Magazine Staff Wins 'Best of the Best', Highest Overall And 39 Individual Awards
The student editorial and creative staff of Perspectives Literary Magazine earned major state-level distinctions at the Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA) Spring Contest and Convention in Orlando. Competing against secondary school publications from across Florida, the team secured top organizational ratings alongside a milestone achievement: every single member of the magazine staff won an individual award.
Top State Rankings and Individual Honors
The state convention evaluated literary magazines on creative writing quality, visual illustration, and overall cohesive publication design. The Perspectives staff achieved several premier placements:
- All-Florida Publication Rating: Led by Editors-in-Chief Dallan Kasavana and Stephanie Herzog, the magazine received the association’s highest overall publication designation.
- Stephanie Herzog & Maria Pantaliao — Best of the Best: earning the absolute top state honor in the Fiction and Illustration category
- Isabella Ickovics — Poetry Honorable Mention: recognized during the live on-site convention contests
- Spring Digital Contests Sweep: The staff accumulated a vast collection of individual honors, totaling:
- 8 All-Florida Ratings
- 11 Excellent Ratings
- 20 Honorable Mentions
*Note: These honors spanned digital art, photography, page design, poetry, short stories, script writing, and personal essays.
Creative Writing and Production Excellence
Producing an award-winning literary anthology requires a sophisticated blend of administrative project management, meticulous copyediting, and artistic curation. The students on the Perspectives staff manage the entire publication cycle from raw text and art submissions to final print and digital layouts. These results highlight the strong communication and analytical skills developed within our humanities and fine arts programs, preparing these student-creatives for advanced literary and design tracks at the university level.