Editors’ Note

This edition is late.

Not a few weeks late, not even a few months. It is now Spring 2021, and the cherry blossoms are in bloom again.

When students left campus in March 2020 due to the pandemic, our production process was rushed, marked with tightening SGA budget restrictions and the overwhelming pressure to finish Stylus 2020. Due to this abbreviated process and the overall chaos of the year, we neglected and deeply failed our community on one of the main purposes of our journal: to recognize and celebrate UMD’s incredibly talented creatives.

In other words, Stylus 2020 inadvertently excluded our JiménezPorter Literary Prize Winners.

We sincerely apologize to the readers, Writers’ House, Stylus, and most importantly, the winners, who had been so excited to see their work displayed only to be disappointed to find them absent in Stylus 2020. In an attempt to make up for this mistake, we are publishing an edition to highlight and honor their works.

Thus, here is Stylus 2020 Winners Edition.

This edition is the first of its kind and is dedicated to the JiménezPorter Literary Prize winners as well as the Cabrini Art Award winners. Most notably, we would like to dedicate this edition to Ray Newby, who kindly served as a voice for all the winners from last year when he informed us of our oversight.

Within these pages, you will be entranced by works that exhibit depth, emotion, and color to a stunning degree. We hope that they will spark reflection and conversation as they are pieces that can provide escapism amid a world that is still healing.

Marjorie Antonio & Balbina Yang Editors-in-Chief