New Editor-in-Chief for The Laureate

DJ DeLong
Creative writing and history major
College of Arts and Sciences, Marketing and Communications student employee

Each year, the Lee Honors College creative journal, The Laureate, welcomes a new editor-in-chief. This year’s editor is Andy Bodinger, a senior majoring in global and international studies and English with a focus on creative writing, and a minor in Chinese. He comes to the position with an extensive writing background that includes being published in last year’s edition of The Laureate and as the undergraduate runner-up in the fiction category of the Gwen Frostic Writing Award.

The Laureate gives undergraduates the opportunity to get their pieces published or be involved in the editing process. In the past couple years the journal has transferred over to being a completely digital publication. And, with the help from Becky Cooper, the faculty editor, Bodinger has added some new categories this year, including music and short films.

“The addition of audio as a feature to the journal really made me think about the potential of the medium of an online journal to include forms of art not traditionally associated with journals,” he says. Audio was first added last year with recordings of the authors reading their pieces.

Bodinger admits that he never planned on becoming the editor-in-chief. “I had no experience and I didn’t think I would be prepared,” he comments. After seeing a post on the Lee Honors College’s Facebook page expressing the need for a new editor, he applied. He said, “I figured it was worth a shot; I could contribute to the Honor’s College in some way and I could learn more about the (publishing) process."

The operation of creating an entire journal involves many different steps, such as reading and selecting submissions, editing, organizing the layout, and working with a design team to develop the final product. Bodinger plans to centralize the process on Google Docs, to allow his assistant editors to help. “I plan for everyone piece to be read/seen by multiple people, and based on everyone’s reactions we decide which pieces are to be added and which on to omit,” he says.

Submissions are currently being accepted for The Laureate until December 16. Those interested can find out more information through their Facebook and tumblr accounts. You can also check out the journals from the past on ScholarWorks.