3/11/2021
On February 25, 2021, the Chrysalis Literary and Arts Magazine staff virtually revealed the autumn/winter 2020 edition via a Zoom meeting to which all of campus was invited. Submissions to the magazine were canvassed from across campus with winners in four categories: poetry, prose, photography, and art.
Abigail McGovern ’23, a sophomore from Round Hill, VA won first place for her poem, “Falling Leaves,” and in prose for “A Song in the Dark.” First place for photography was awarded to Chloe Fisher ’22, a junior from Franklin County, VA for “Single,” which was also chosen as the cover photo for the magazine. First place award for art went to senior Elina Baltins ’21 for “Love Hurts.”
Judges included three Ferrum College alumni: Kala Brubaker ’17, Ryan Osborn ’11, and Shameer Shah ’06. Brubaker, a middle school English teacher who studied in Kyrgyzstan and earned her masters degree in education from William & Mary College in 2018, evaluated the prose category. Osborn, a ceramic artist whose sculptures have received national attention, evaluated art. Shah, a professional landscape photographer, video creator, and conservationist who currently lives in London , evaluated photography. The final judge was Professor Emerita of English Marcia Horn, who taught at Ferrum for 23 years, and evaluated poetry submissions.
“We got so many great submissions and the staff got so ambitious that I had to cut over ten pages from the magazine during winter break to stay within budget,” said Chrysalis advisor and Professor of English Katherine Grimes.
This year, the Chrysalis staff was able to meet in person to layout the magazine, a contrast to last spring when the staff was forced to hammer it out through Zoom meetings because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s virtual reveal was the first ever in the magazine’s history. “We really missed the refreshments,” said Grimes.
McGovern, who served as editor-in-chief of Chrysalis this year, said the process to layout and publish Chrysalis is a lengthy one. “We do it in several steps. Overall, it takes us about a month to layout the whole thing, before we send the magazine to the printer,” she said. “Chrysalis is really a team process. It’s a honor to work with so many other dedicated, talented people. We all learn so much from each other, and I can say with confidence that I am always growing as both a leader and an artist.”
Read the autumn/winter edition of Chrysalis here.
