The Concrete Desert Review, the student-led literary magazine comprised of students from the California State University, San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus, was recently awarded a top honor by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

The publication received a “Superior” rating from NCTE’s REALM (Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines) program, which publicly recognizes excellent literary magazines produced by students with the support of their teachers.

REALM is designed to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines that celebrate the art and craft of writing.

The mission of The Concrete Desert Review is to create a literary platform for diverse perspectives to showcase their work. They are particularly interested in work by writers, poets and artists from marginalized communities.

“While PDC’s literary journal program is a place for our future publishing professionals to learn more about the industry, it is also a site where our future teachers can learn high-impact strategies in literacy development,” said Gina Hanson, the publication’s faculty advisor. “What the NCTE REALM Award program has done is connect us to a national network of students and teachers at all levels supporting literacy through literary publications. This experience will undoubtedly help PDC’s future educators looking to develop similar programs throughout the Coachella Valley after graduation.”    

Student editors include Maya Guerrero (managing editor Issue One), Kassandra Engle, Kelsi Landa Uribe, Angie Monroy, Brian Woodyard, Diego Valdez, Anisa Alvarez, Diana Mejia Lucero, Ally Anderson, Alexandra Garcia, Sixta Payan, Andrea Ramirez, Robert Rodriguez, Erick Rocha, Adam Shimp (managing editor Issue Two), Brandon Alquijay, Jeffery Castaneda, Gabriel Peña, Natalie Rubio, Claudia Zepeda, Jasmine Rangel, and Amourette Chuzel.

For more information about the literary magazine, visit The Concrete Desert Review website.

For more information about the award, visit the NCTE website.

For more information about the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus, contact Mike Singer in the Office of Strategic Communication at msinger@csusb.edu or (760) 341-2883, ext. 78107, or visit the PDC website at www.csusb.edu/pdc.