REALM Awards: Now & Then

On January 22^nd, Élan celebrated our third year in a row receiving a First-Class distinction from the NCTE REALM Awards. If you’re unfamiliar, NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English) is an organization designed to support teachers and students, and REALM is one of the awards they offer centered around student-run literary magazines throughout the country. REALM stands for “Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines.” They score each submitted magazine by a specific rubric, and First-Class is the highest honor they award. 

Élan's 2025 REALM Award Certificate

A literary magazine is awarded First-Class if it scores 93-100 points, a Superior if it gets 86-100, an Excellent for a 71-85, and a Merit award for 0-70. Élan has been submitting to REALM for about ten years, and every year we’ve received some form of recognition, but in the past 3 years, we’ve consistently made top scores. It is unbelievably satisfying to see our hard work recognized by such a prestigious organization. 

The rubric is divided into different categories, and each category awards a different number of points. A First-Class magazine must score high in Content and Quality, Rhetorical Variety, Editing and Proofreading, Artistic Quality, and Front Matter, Credits, and Pagination. A Superior or Excellent might excel in certain categories but fall short in others. Every year, Élan has tried to improve their magazines based on REALM standards, meaning that we’ve prioritized including a variety of genres and perspectives as well as changing our design style. 

However, now that Élan staff knows we reach the standards REALM asks for, the new question is “Do we want to continue striving for REALM Awards, or do we want to start experimenting at the risk that we might not score as high?” There are certain qualifications REALM asks of literary magazines that have the potential to limit what we can do. For example, recently REALM has made it a rule that at least 50% of featured pieces must be from students who belong to the host school. For a magazine like Élan, who invites and encourages submissions globally, that rule doesn’t work in our favor. There are also layout and design choices we can’t make because it would subtract from our points.  

The question is one that only staff members can answer, and the answer might change as different staff members come and go. Élan will always strive for excellence, but our exact definition of excellence may shift in the coming years. 

Élan's past three volumes that have won First-Class

Signed, 

Olivia Sheftall, Junior Layout and Design Editor