Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines (REALM) Awards
On January 22, 2026, nominators received the results of the 2025 REALM Awards via email. Congratulations to all of the participating students, educators, and schools!
The REALM program 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.
- Annual deadline: July 31
- Reminder: you must be 18 years old or older to complete the nomination form. For middle school and high school, the person completing the nomination form must be an educator. Any forms submitted by middle school or high school students will not be accepted.
- Effective May, 2025: To be eligible for REALM, the majority of a magazine’s art and literary content must be created by the submitting school’s students.
- Learn more about REALM’s guidelines, eligibility, and judging.
- Find a printable, student-facing poster for NCTE’s three recurring Student Writing Awards.
Update for the 2025 REALM Awards will be forthcoming.
Past REALM committee chair, Benjamin Lally, has created an interactive map of all of the REALM First Class winners from 2008 to 2024. Since 2020, some magazines have added their covers or links to their full magazines – click on them to find examples of a First Class publication! Starting in 2022, some advisors have added their contact information for anyone who wishes to reach out with questions about running a literary magazine. Schools with repeat winners are sorted by their most recent First Class publication. Please follow the link to see more!
2025 REALM Recipients
There were a total of 456 entries with 135 REALM First Class recipients.
Note: Magazines were scored by national judges.
*No entries
2024 REALM Recipients
There were a total of 421 entries with 125 REALM First Class recipients.
Note: Magazines were scored by multiple judges across the United States and abroad.
*No entries
2023 REALM Recipients
There were a total of 375 entries with 105 REALM First Class recipients.
Note: Magazines were scored by national judges.
*No entries
2022 REALM Recipients
There were a total of 262 entries with 38 REALM First Class recipients.
Note: Magazines were scored by national judges.
*No entries