Lone Star College-CyFair’s annual literary journal, The Barker’s Voice, has received the rank of Excellent in the 2024 NCTE Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines (REALM) program.

In the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) congratulatory email on this “exceptional magazine”, Christopher Mandia, Managing Editor of The Barker’s Voice, and his team was commended “for inspiring a love of writing that your students will remember for the rest of their lives.”

LSC-CyFair faculty and student editors for the award-winning Spring 2024 issue, a collection showcasing poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction and visual arts, include faculty Jorge Iglesias, Cher Schmitt and Kelley Eggert along with students Chrischen Thompson, Sameen (Sammy) Malik, Angle Alfonso and Andrea Rosales.

“Chris Mandia and his student and faculty editors on The Barker's Voice deserve every accolade,” said LSC-CyFair Professor Michelle Brown, who founded this journal of arts and letters. “So it's no surprise to see them receive the NCTE REALM Award for the second time in our campus's history.”

This year, middle schools, high schools, and higher education institutions in 46 states and five countries nominated 422 student magazines for the 2024 REALM contest. The REALM program, which recognizes excellent literary magazines, is designed to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines that celebrate the art and craft of writing.

Go to LoneStar.edu/barkers-voice to see the latest issue and to submit work. For information on the college’s art and writing programs and student clubs, go to LoneStar.edu/cyfair.