Student magazine is an award winner

16 November 2004

The Oxford University student magazine Isis has scooped top prizes at two award ceremonies in just one week. The magazine was named Student Magazine of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards on Wednesday 10 November, then three days later at the National Union of Students/Daily Mirror National Student Journalism Awards won the Best Small Budget Publication category.

Founded by Mostyn Turtle Piggott in 1892 at Oxford University, Isis is the longest-running independent student magazine in England. Originally a weekly newspaper, by the 1980s, Isis was a glossy magazine. Since the 1990s it has been published by Oxford Student Publications Limited, which also publishes the student newspaper Cherwell. Throughout its 124-year history Isis has had an impressive list of contributors, including Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, Michael Foot, Sylvia Plath, Dennis Potter and Nigella Lawson.

Out of a shortlist of five the judging panel of the Guardian Student Media Awards – which included presenter Jon Snow, author Dave Gorman, GQ editor Dylan Jones and the executive editor of Sky News, Simon Bucks – named Isis Student Magazine of the Year for its ‘intelligent mix of popular ideas that were stylishly portrayed.’

At the NUS/Daily Mirror awards Isis were nominated in more categories than any other publication. As well as being named Best Small Budget Publication, Isis won the runner-up prize for its website. Online Editor Ollie Robertshaw said: ‘I am very impressed with coming runner-up for the website, especially given that the winner was a newspaper website and would have a lot more content, and thus a greater scope for impressive design ideas. Hopefully we’ll have both the Isis and Cherwell websites in the running for next year.’

To read Isis online visit their website. http://isis.ospl.org/