POUGHKEEPSIE – Marist’s annual fashion magazine, FM/AM, has again won a Gold Medal from the prestigious Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) of Columbia University, an international student press organization. This marks the third consecutive year that FM/AM has received this award.
A panel of judges views all entrants, whether they are newspapers, magazines, yearbooks or online media, and assigns a point total out of 1,000. This year, FM/AM earned 984 points, earning All-Columbian Honors. Judges are experienced former advisers to student media, professional journalists who understand student media or professionals such as photographers or online specialists.
“Winning this significant award for the third consecutive year absolutely cements the Marist Fashion Program’s spot as an elite program,” said Lyn Lepre, Dean of the School of Communication and the Arts, which oversees the Fashion Program. “This award is in many ways an acknowledgment of our top-notch academics and what a well-rounded education we are providing to our fashion majors.”
FM/AM is a fully student-produced publication. Professional Lecturer of Fashion, Merchandising, and Sustainability Melissa Halvorson serves as instructor and editor. FM/AM is built into the academic structure of the Fashion Program; Halvorson teaches the courses “Writing for Fashion” every fall and “Magazine Production” in the spring. The magazine’s mission is to present fashion thoughtfully.
“This magazine provides an opportunity for students to explore what fashion is about—namely change, tension and innovation,” said Halvorson. “This year, the magazine explored the relationship between preservation and progress.”
All written and graphic content is student created, including illustrations, info-graphics and feature photography. Editorial photo shoots are conceived, art directed, and produced by students and utilize the thesis collections of the Fashion Program’s senior designers, but are shot by professional photographers. “This is an important opportunity for our students to work directly with industry professionals as peers, giving and getting direction; compromising, communicating the magazine’s mission; and learning how to manage a photo shoot of 20-30 people,” said Halvorson.
Twenty-five hundred copies of FM/AM are produced with 1,500 distributed internationally by Pineapple Media. It is sold in France, the UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, and throughout the U.S. in major cities.
The Marist Fashion program has also been recognized for excellence by the premier industry publication, Business of Fashion.
