Media Contact: Matt Bowden
Email: mtbowden1@jhu.edu
Phone: (410) 735-6045 BALTIMORE April, 2006 – Imagine magazine, published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY), has won a 2006 Gold Award from the Parents' Choice Foundation. Announced March 17, the award honors Imagine as one of the highest quality periodicals on the market geared toward children and young adults.Third consecutive year CTY’s magazine has won Gold Award Since 2004, Imagine has garnered the Parents’ Choice Foundation’s highest honor, a track record editor Melissa Hartman is extremely proud of. “Imagine is now the magazine I knew it could become,” she said, “and we have done this without sacrificing our high editorial standards.” Parents’ Choice seems to agree. The Foundation bestows awards each spring on products for young people that, according to its website, “entertain and teach with flair, stimulate imagination and inspire creativity.” In reviewing children's media since 1978, Parents’ Choice has become a resource for NPR, the Wall Street Journal, and a broad variety of other outlets when addressing children’s media topics. In 2003, Imagine took home a Recommendation from the Foundation, and has since then shared the Gold Award each year with periodicals such as Cricket, Ranger Rick, and American Girl. Academics with a difference Where Imagine differs from its counterparts is its status as the only Gold Award winner intended for 12-18 year olds. “The number of programs for gifted teens is growing,” Hartman says. “We do our best to inform pre-college readers about programs that will nurture their academic interests and talents, and to inspire them to pursue those interests.” Published since 1993, Imagine’s five annual issues cover topics ranging from academic competitions and summer programs to college advice and career profiles with such luminaries as journalist Cynthia McFadden, Time science writer Michael Lemonick, and Cassini-Huygens scientist Dr. Jonathan Lunine. The other factor that makes Imagine so appealing to gifted teens is the number of articles featured by writers their own age. Hartman explains that, “we find our student writers in different ways—through our work here at CTY, working with a program we want to feature, such as Earthwatch or Youth Radio. Still others come to us through queries from subscribers . . . I get more queries every year. Ultimately, I’ve found that students enjoy the work that goes into making a work publishable and find it more rewarding than simply receiving an A.” # # # About The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY) CTY (www.cty.jhu.edu) conducts the nation's oldest and most extensive academic talent search and offers educational programming for students with exceptionally high academic ability. Since 1979, CTY has identified America’s top academic students in grades two through eight and provided challenging educational programs through their 10th grade year. Students who score at or above the 95th percentile on standardized tests normally taken in school are invited to participate in CTY’s Talent Search, during which they take an additional set of standardized tests used to measure mathematical and verbal reasoning. Qualifying students may choose to enroll in CTY programs including summer residential programs, online courses, and one-day family conferenceson special topics. CTY also publishes Imagine, the award-winning periodical that is full of opportunities and resources for gifted students. # # #
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