Author: Jason Hartsel

Student Media would like to thank and congratulate each of our 45 involved students graduating in 2025!

Your hard work, creativity, and leadership helped our groups continue to inform, enrich, and entertain the Mason community.

Click here to meet our outstanding 2025 graduates! >

While we are sad to see our grads move on, we know that each of them has a bright future ahead. Our work is inherently collaborative, but the individual contributions made over the years by the Class of 2025 have made a tremendous impact on the Mason community. Your shared commitment to excellence will not be forgotten.

Congratulations to everyone graduating in 2025 and best of luck with your new careers in media and beyond!

Student Media is proud to announce that Hispanic Culture Review (HCR) has been awarded a 2024 National Magazine Pacemaker Award by The Associated Collegiate Press (ACP), the preeminent award in student journalism!

Volition, Mason’s undergraduate literary and arts journal, was named a finalist in the same category!

Congratulations to both journals for earning this tremendous honor!

Click here to download the full press release >

Unofficially known as the “Student Pulitzer,” the Associated Collegiate Press has awarded the Pacemaker to spotlight excellence in college media since 1927. According to the ACP website, this “prestigious award recognizes overall excellence and distinguishes the top student media produced during a particular school year.”

First published in fall 1990, Hispanic Culture Review is a bilingual literary journal at George Mason University that features poetry, essays, narratives, photography, and visual art in both Spanish and English. Celebrating more than 30 years of excellence, HCR’s mission is to bridge communication gaps and strengthen cultural bonds between English- and Spanish-speaking peoples by publishing original works from diverse creators around the world.

Since the first issue of Volition in fall of 2006 (formerly known as Apathy), the publication’s mission has been to unite Mason’s artistic community and serve as a showcase for undergraduate creativity. Publishing original poetry, prose, and visual art, Volition seeks to elevate emerging artists and writers while fostering free expression
on campus.

“Well-deserved but not surprising; both editorial teams consistently create publications that are the best of the best in college media journals,” said Mason Student Media Director Kathryn Mangus.

“I am extremely proud of Mason’s student publications and thrilled to see these two journals recognized nationally by the Pacemaker committee,” said Volition and HCR faculty advisor Jason Hartsel. “Each individual issue is the culmination of many hours of hard work, creativity, and hands-on learning by our talented students, and this award will no doubt inspire future teams to leave behind their own legacy of distinction.”

“It is a profound honor to support this amazing group of students as they share narratives that celebrate Hispanic culture and foster cross-cultural understanding—especially through Mason’s only bilingual literary journal,” said HCR faculty advisor Carla Burns. “I’m continually impressed by their dedication and so proud of this important accomplishment.”

Gary Lundgren, ACP associate director and coordinator of the Pacemaker competition, noted the quality of the winning student magazines rivals those produced by professionals: “The verbal and visual storytelling in the winning magazines is incredible and robust long-form stories combined with shorter quick-reads to pace the reader through the pages of the feature magazines,” Lundgren said. “And the creativity displayed in the literary arts magazines is incredible — the unique formats and creative designs make the magazines themselves a work of art.”

 

Student Media is proud to announce a new archival video initiative that we will be unveiling over the course of the spring 2025 semester: The Mason Throwback Project!

The Mason Throwback Project is an ongoing series documenting the history of George Mason University through student-produced videos and photos from Student Media’s archives.

You may have noticed the first two videos debut on YouTube, Instagram, and X/Twitter last month during Mason’s 2025 Homecoming celebrations. Future installments will spotlight important Mason traditions and events such as Greek Week, International Week, Mason Day, Commencement, and more!

Check out the full Mason Throwback Project playlist and stay tuned for new videos on Student Media’s YouTube channel and follow @gmustudentmedia on social media.

Playlist link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZZHnC0JXWSuZP1cfbfTq6jLbvwa6A6U_

Mason Throwback: Homecoming (Basketball):

Mason Throwback: Homecoming (Tailgate/Parade):

Staff Credits: Patrice Pannell, Video Editor; Music Credits: Skilsel via Pixabay (Energetic Hip-Hop); Footage Courtesy of: GMView Yearbook, Mason Cable Network, and Student Media Archives; Learn More: studentmedia.gmu.edu