From the Nominator

"UC Santa Barbara Magazine is a young publication with a distinct mission to highlight what makes UC Santa Barbara a world-class institution. The magazine brings readers onto campus through our pages and, importantly, casts a wider net, placing the University in the world by examining topics of wide interest. In every issue, art is instrumental to our storytelling. From illustration to cutting-edge design and original photography, the visuals are created and curated with intention and in collaboration with writers and editors. 

We started 2022 with a central question: Can we offer our readers some hope? In our spring and summer editions, we embarked on a quest to cultivate optimism, action, and healing amid the social strife, environmental doom and gloom, and pandemic. Our cover package, “Always Toward the Sun,” delved into this goal, and how to achieve it, over four topical features. The pursuit of optimism and progress drove the entire issue and underlies most of the stories. 

For our fall and winter issue, “Beyond the Edge,” we sought to explore the notion of bringing light to the world by breaking barriers of history, society, the universe, and even of comprehension. By spotlighting individuals and initiatives kicking boundaries aside, we aimed to expand our readers’ view of what is possible. 

Both issues were created almost entirely by staff. The results from letters of campus leadership, faculty, donors, trustees, alumni, and others were glowing. A dedicated magazine website is another medium to engage our constituents."

From the Judges

It's clear that this publication has been crafted with care, beautiful and interesting content, as well as the well-balanced use of photography, illustration, white space, and text. It's evident that the design team has put a lot of thought into how the elements of the publication work together to create a cohesive and engaging reading experience.