At the beginning of each year The Voice Magazine does our “Best of” issue, but what does that really mean? A lot of people confuse it with a top ten type of issue, especially these days where list based articles are so prevalent (because they can keep drawing you through page after page of new advertising views). But a “Best of The Voice” issue isn’t just going through and picking out the best written or most impressive articles from the year—as if that would even be possible.
No, with the diversity of students and articles that the Voice runs, choosing the absolute “Best” is simply going to be a reflection of the indiviudal who’s choosing, and not really reflective of the students. For instance, there’s some articles in the Voice that, honestly, aren’t really my cup of tea, but I’ve gotten comments from students that they’re appreciated. And because the Voice should be more about the students than just one guy who’s doing the editing, I happily keep publishing them. A couple of them are even in here.
So then what is a Best of issue? I like to think of it as, if you were going to pick up a single issue of the Voice each year, what articles would best represent what we do here. What issue can you just give to someone and say, “Here. Here’s what The Voice Magazine is about.”
That means the issue always ends up a fairly large one, though, because there’s so much that needs to be shown, from student reactions to current events, reflections on what it means to be an AU student, informative articles about courses, awards, study habits, general life advice, academic or scholastic advice,particular topics of interest, and more.
But most important in collating this issue is following the suggestions and advice of you, the readers of the Voice Magazine. I was quite pleased this year with the number of people who submitted at least one or two picks. That always makes the selection process a lot easier, so a big thank you to all of you who helped create this issue. Hopefully you see it as as much your issue of The Voice Magazine as it is mine or anybody elses.
Not everything in this issue is a repeat, however, because life doesn’t stop around the holidays, no matter how badly you lose track of the days, there’s still things that students need to know, like the latest AU Events, or another scholarship opportunity you may not have been aware of. We’ve kept up with that.
Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the writers for their work over the past year, and all of the readers for gifting us with your most valuable commodity, time. That you’d spend it with is us absolutely appreciated, and I hope we’re giving you value in return.
With that, I hope all of you have had a happy new year so far, and that this issue is simply another point in that continuing for the rest of it! Enjoy the read! I certainly did!
