VCU Libraries announces the fourth annual VCU Publishing Awards. These awards recognize scholarship and creativity from VCU Publishing's journal partners. 

VCU Libraries publishes nine open access peer-reviewed scholarly journals. VCU Publishing also hosts the archives of Auctus: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship, from VCU's Honors College, as well as the archives of the Virginia War Memorial Foundation's Mighty Pen Project, which provides creative writing instruction for veterans and their families, and Frontline Writers, a similar project for first responders.

Publishing partners were asked to nominate representative works from their most recent journal volumes that demonstrate VCU Publishing’s goals to advance research, creative expression and learning.

The awardees for 2025 are:

• Justin A. Gutzwa (Michigan State University) and Sergio A. Gonzalez (University of Pittsburgh), for their article Three Card Spread: Theorizing Queer and Trans Futurity for Tenure-Track Faculty Through Divination Dialogues, from Vol. 1, Issue 1 of the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education.

Editor Kamden Strunk says that "this article pushes the boundaries on methodological innovation in qualitative inquiry by presenting a queer and trans studies approach to the use of divination as an inquiry tool. Specifically, Gutzwa and Gonzalez demonstrate the use of tarot as a methodology to bring up insights and themes that would be difficult to adequately capture with more traditional methodologies. Their work applies this novel methodology to unique structural insights about the operation of identities and power in higher education spaces." 

• William R. Levin (Centre College, Danville, KY), for his article The Date of the Allegory of Mercy at the Misericordia in Florence...Again: Some Clarifications Regarding the Historical Setting, from Vol. 18, Issue 4 of Art Inquiries. 

According to editor Mysoon Rizk, this article "deserves recognition for providing critical insight on a fundamental work of Renaissance art and architecture while simultaneously modeling a style of rebuttal that could well prove useful to emerging scholars." Levin makes a valuable contribution to art history by setting the historical record straight and providing a template for how to engage in scholarly debate. 

Based in the VCU Libraries, VCU Publishing amplifies VCU scholarly and research findings, and provides publishing opportunities and experiences for VCU students and faculty. VCU Publishing includes a portfolio of platforms and publishing services. It seeks partnerships within VCU and the Greater Richmond community to broaden that portfolio in ways that advance research, creative expression, and learning at VCU and for the region.

To learn more about publishing with VCU Libraries, contact publishing@vcu.edu.