By Mary Stoudt
2020 was a year of unexpected challenges. The COVID-19, tornadoes, ice storms and many others have reverberated in our lives in complex and, sometimes, unpredictable ways. Ferrum’s “Chrysalis Literary and Arts Magazine” is no exception to this.
(The cover photo of Chrysalis's autumn/winter 2020 issue was taken by Chloe Fisher, who was also the first-place winner of this year's photo competition.)
Though Chrysalis's autumn/winter 2020 issue was completed in fall 2020, the magazine was printed at Just-Rite Printing in Fultondale, AL and was in production when the tornado hit. Due to this reason, Chrysalis's autumn/winter 2020 official reveal was not held until Feb. 25, 2021. With the COVID still being highly active, this year’s reveal was held virtually for students, faculty, and staff, instead of being held in the Blue Ridge Mountain Room like past years.
This autumn/winter 2020 issue was edited and completed by a staff of nine students, with English professor Katherine Grimes serving as the advisor. The judges for this issue were Ferrum College’s retired English professor Marcia Horn, and Ferrum alumni Kala Brubaker, Ryan Osborne, and Shameer Shah.
This year's reveal event also announced the winners of the first- and second-place competitions. The first-place photo graced the cover of this year's magazine and was a field of sunflowers taken by Chloe Fisher. The second-place photo featured a horse and was taken by freshmen Ryan Gobble. Sophomore and Chrysalis staff member Abigail McGovern was this year's first-place poetry winner. Junior Brandon Mullins’ poetry took this year's second-place prize. Both Fisher and McGovern placed again in the prose category, with McGovern taking the first-place and Fisher taking second-place awards. Senior Elina Blatins placed first with her original art and Casey Craddock placed second with hers.
Entries for the spring 2021 Chrysalis magazine have already closed and this spring issue will be presented later in the year.