A portion of a 4-sheet of the outside and inside covers of the Spring 2026 issue of UMass Magazine..

Honors and Awards

UMass Magazine Wins UCDA Awards

The cover of the Spring 2026 issue of UMass Magazine featuring a black and white image of a hand writing with a pen.

A panel of industry expert judges at the University & College Designers Association has bestowed UMass Magazine with 2026 Awards of Excellence in the categories of Best Print Redesign and Complete Publication/Issue.

The UCDA, a global non-profit, received 776 entries across many categories this year, and UMass Magazine was not only the recipient of Awards of Excellence but was also selected for Judge’s Choice in both categories.

These awards are just the latest honors for the magazine, which is led by Editor-in-Chief Candice Pinault Novak and supported by Lori Shine ’04 MFA, Alexis Ali, Heather Kamins and Matt Jasiorkowski. UMass Magazine serves the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s entire community on campus and around the world with a print and digital publication bringing stories of characters and places to more than 300,000 readers.

The magazine has served the UMass community for the past 120 years and is published twice a year in print and continuously online at umass.edu/magazine.