Ever want to read more of other student’s works? Well, there will soon be a way to do so! “The Archive” is a digital and print ‘repository’ for Northwestern’s student work. This is not the first time NW has had a literary arts publication. From 1979 to 2020, “The Spectrum” was published every year and featured poetry, artwork, creative non-fiction, and short fiction. The Archive will expand upon these categories. Dr Kali Jo Wacker explained how this idea came about:
“The Archive is filling a need. Stories are meant to be shared and celebrated. God made us to be people who crave stories, who learn from them and relate to others through them. Stories are bridge builders. The Archive is NWC’s English and Communications department saying, ‘You’re seen. You’re heard. Let us help affirm and further that.”
The Archive has been a couple years in the making, and this issue features student work submitted in the 2025-2026 academic year, as well as the winners of a 200-word writing contest held in Spring 2025.
There are five different categories of submissions: Fiction, Creative Non-fiction, Poetry, Visual Art, and Music & Film. And then, for a bonus, a comic strip collaboration will be published in the “For Fun” page. Each section’s submissions passed though some preliminary judges, and then this year’s guest juror, Professor Cambria Kaltwasser, picked the overall winners and runners-up.
Dr Kali Jo Wacker and Junior Scholar Lauren Derscheid worked together to develop the website and style guide for the publication. The Archive will be regularly updated online at thearchivejournal.org and students whose work is published will also receive print copies.
The winners and runners-up for the upcoming issue are as follows.
In the Fiction category, the 2025 winners were “Remains” by Angie Li and “Not Lost, But Reimagined” by Luke Jeltema. For 2026, the winners were “Finding Wonderful” by Bethany Nemmers, “Through the Winds of Illinois” by Anna Frangenberg, and “Gary and the Secret of the Silent Valley” by Bryce Click.
The next section is Creative Non-Fiction. The 2025 winners were “Reheat” by Rose Hoogers, who was the overall winner, “Returned Home” by Jonah Van Dyke, “How I Remember It” by Charlee Olson, and “Neon Citadel” by Isaac Ferguson. The 2026 winners were “Recess” by Lauren Derscheid, the overall winner, “The Noise Matters” by Ashton Hughes, “Birds’ Nest” by Charlee Olson and “I Cried Today” by Logan Thooft were runners-up.
The third section is Poetry. The 2025 winners were “What Follows” by Madison White, “Resplendent” by Annabell Christensen, and “Regrowth” by Emma Farmer. The 2026 winners were “Music” by Caitlyn Grove, “A Complication of Moments” by Anna Frangenberg, and “A Stillness” by Ashton Hughes.
The fourth section is Visual Art. The winners are “Teapot & Grapes” an acrylic painting by Anaka Wede, Thea Angelee Davis’s “Human Being” photography pieces, Karys Vande Lune’s photomontage “I See God in Everything”, “Tranquility” done in white charcoal on black paper by Kazuki Tomita, and Caitlyn Grove’s charcoal drawing “Model”.
The fifth section, Music & Film, only had one submission: “Spaces Left Behind” by Ashton Hughes. This is a piece of music that he composed.
The last section is For Fun, which is described as showcasing “the power of non-traditional storytelling.” This issue’s comic strip is titled “Rise of Blaze” and is an adaptation of a story written by Ben Jackson and illustrated by Joyella Brick. As it is said in the Note to the Readers, “We hope this new version remains for forty more [years] while intentionally acknowledging the legacy that has made a publication like this possible. Stories, no matter when written, are stories that should be shared…[the aim is that] the editorial staff would gain experience with both print and digital media, the writers would have more ways to share their writing with the world, and the creatives who float throughout the other many ways to tell stories could have a space for their stuff too…We hope you enjoy the fruits of our students’ labor as writers, artists, and designers.”
Students should consider taking the time to check out this fantastic publication. The online version is live, and the printed copies are supposed to be here by April 24. Any questions can be directed to Sarah Tharp, Dr Kali Jo Wacker, Junior Scholar Lauren Derscheid, or the students who submitted pieces.
Sample of a student entry poem for NW’s “Spectrum.”
