For the past 53 years, Rye High School has produced an impressive art and literary magazine, Zephyr, which showcases the artistic and literary talents of our students in a single volume.

By Annette McLoughlin

For the past 53 years, Rye High School has produced an impressive art and literary magazine, Zephyr, which showcases the artistic and literary talents of our students in a single volume. The publication is the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work by a devoted and passionate staff of student editors, writers, and artists, as well as two faculty advisors.

And every year, the magazine is submitted to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association for evaluation, critique, and consideration for its awards. The CSPA has been critiquing student magazines since 1925 for the purpose of helping to “improve writing through the medium of student publications.” Student magazines are submitted from throughout the world and each publication is carefully evaluated and graded for its Essentials, Verbal, and Visual content. Over the years, Zephyr has received gold and silver medals from CSPA.

The 2015 edition received 801 out of a possible 1,000 points, which qualified it for that highest Gold Medalist prize. Judges praised the “prose and poetry” calling them “formidable.” The verbal section of the paper received a separate, “All Columbian Honors, scoring a 394 out of a possible 400 points.

Literary advisor George Krajca notes that the award is the result of a culmination of years of work and improvement, “The success of this issue is the result of improving the magazine each year. We expect this critique to take the magazine to an even higher level next year.”