The Augustinian Mirror

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The Augustinian Mirror is the official student magazine of the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City, Philippines. It was also adopted as the official name of the student publication of the elementary department of Colegio San Agustin-Makati (founded 1969), a sister school of the University of San Agustin in the nation's metropolitan capital region.

It is published twice a year (once every semester) by the USA Publications. Founded in 1928, it is one of the country's oldest and most prestigious campus magazines. Among its chief goals are to nurture young literary minds and social achievers in the fields of literature, journalism, philosophy, theology, law and governance. The plan to establish a school publication was initiated in 1927. Although it was officially founded in 1928, the maiden issue first came out in 1929. It started as a news-oriented tabloid that covered annual events and activities of the university in English and Spanish. Being one of the earliest post-colonial Catholic publications in the Philippines, it was exhibited in the exposition of the Catholic Press at the Vatican in 1936. During World War II, it ceased operation as school authorities decided to close the university at a time of great uncertainty.

The post-war volume of 1945 saw the gradual change to its present format as a news magazine complemented with works of fiction, column writing and poetry in four subdivided sections: English, Filipino, Hiligaynon and Spanish. In 1946, the publication gained its first female editor. A complementary newspaper, The Augustinian, was established in 1956 focusing on news events in the university. It became a vehicle for students and faculty members to express their opinions on campus and socio-political issues. In 2006, a literary journal, Irong-Irong, was launched as a student medium for creative writing.

Over the years, The Augustinian Mirror has evolved into a theme-oriented publication. It has won countless awards and distinctions for excellence in news writing, human rights, tourism and travel in the past decades. It is a three-time recipient of the Gawad Lopez Jaena Award for "excellence in campus journalism," the highest distinction given by the government-run Philippine Information Agency (PIA). It has also won nine times the distinction of being adjudged the "best college magazine" in Western Visayas by COPRE (College Press Conference) and has been cited by the National Collegiate Press as one of the three best campus magazines of the Philippines in the 1970's. It has produced outstanding writers who later went on to become recipients of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. After numerous journalism awards for nineteen consecutive years, it was granted in 2006 the right to hand out its own awards known as the SanAg Campus Press Awards.


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