Curb Magazine Earns National Award

The Society of Professional Journalists named the 2018 issue of Curb magazine as a national finalist for its Mark of Excellence Award for Best Student Magazine.

Curb is produced by a group of students enrolled in a magazine publishing class offered each fall in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The class is a capstone experience that invites a group of 23 seniors and professional master’s degree students to start in September with a creative idea and finish the semester with a 64-page magazine and full website. The 17th edition of Curb magazine, Curb:FEARless, explored themes of courage, fear and nerve.

“Having the opportunity to take part in such a hands-on experience as students is invaluable,” says Curb editor and SJMC senior Olivia Jones. “We stayed true to our fearless vision from day one and to be recognized for our final product is a testament to the dedication and talent that this group of students led with throughout the entirety of the semester.”

Stories explored the way people use their faith to navigate through uncertainty and how surgeons deal with the risks associated with holding patients’ lives in their hands. The Curb staff supplemented written pieces with multimedia features, such as a podcast about a psychic called “Psyched,” a comic strip based on a true ghost story and a Spotify playlist with songs associated with being fearless.

“When the students discussed devoting their issue to exploring fear, they talked about wanting to do something bold and different, and their magazine delivered on that in every way,” says Curb publisher and SJMC instructor Stacy Forster.

Curb was mailed to more than 10,000 UW-Madison alumni across Wisconsin. A PDF of the print edition is available online, while the full web version can be found at curbonline.com.

This is the third time the Society of Professional Journalists has recognized Curb with a national award. The society named the 2012 and 2014 editions of Curb the nation’s best student magazine.