On Tues. April 29, VOX Arts and Literary Magazine held their spring magazine launch, introducing their latest publication, “Wonderland.”

Held in Butcher Suite, the event recognized the three Pace University students whose contributions received prizes for this semester.

Freshman English major Catharine Conway’s piece “Wonderland” received the Poetry Prize, freshman English and adolescent education major LeeAnn Reynolds’ work “The Mermaid” receive the Prose Prize, marketing major Grazia Bueti received the Art Prize.

“We are getting so many more quality submissions,” said VOX Faculty Advisor Editor Deborah Poe. “It is a great, friendly, warm environment to submit to for your first publication.”

Poe, who is an assistant professor in Pace’s English and Modern Language Studies Department, attributes the magazine’s quality to a shift that VOX underwent with her advisement. “When I first came to Pace, VOX was something between a fashion magazine and a yearbook,” Poe said. “With over thirteen years of experience in editing, I wanted the magazine to shift and focus more on literature.”

Featured speaker and alumna Amanda Cerreto read from her young adult novel Fall fromGrace.

Though the novel fit the event’s theme of “suspending disbelief,” according to Prose Editor Stacy Wells, Cerreto explained that the book didn’t start that way.

“I hadn’t intended for the novel to be paranormal when I started writing. I began with the middle and it just became that way,” said Cerreto, who majored in literature during her undergraduate career at Pace.

Cerreto would go on to receive her Masters in English with an emphasis on creative writing, but says that her education at Pace continues to influence her work as a writer.

“Many of the courses that I took at Pace shaped the novel and the way that I write,” she said. “The poem in the beginning [of Fall from Grace] is based directly from the Romantic poetry course that I took while here.”

The event additionally served as induction ceremony for members of the Sigma Tau Delta English honors society.

“The launch is a great way for students to understand what VOX is and listen to the different voices as writers read their work,” said Vox Poetry Editor Mariam Parwez. “It serves as an outlet for Pace students and faculty, helping [them] to unite through their voice.