Over the summer, enlight’ning, Harker’s middle school literary magazine, was recognized by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), American Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) and Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for its exemplary product.

The National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) awarded the 2009-2010 edition of enlight’ning the First Class award with marks of distinction for concept, writing and editing. ASPA named Kevin Ke, now Gr. 7, Best Artist for his artwork “Octopus Wreck” and gave the publication first place with special merit. “We are all very proud of the staff members’ work,” adviser Patricia Lai Burrows said.

enlight’ning editor Nila Banerjee, now Gr. 9, was delighted to hear about the awards. “As part of the staff, I really enjoyed working as a team to build the magazine,” she said, “It’s such a great feeling when everyone enjoys something that you help make.”

CSPA named this edition a Silver Medalist winner, scoring the design, writing and organization very highly. The adviser-judge who critiqued enlight’ning offered ways to improve and also offered her praise, calling “Changing Life” the best poem in the magazine. The judge also commended the clean look and standout images and gave the literary magazine a comprehensive 741 points out of 1000.