The Community Literacy Journal, co-edited by University of Arizona professor John Warnock, has been nominated by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals for best new scholarly journal.

The Journal, published twice a year, addresses social, cultural, rhetorical and institutional aspects of community literacy, particularly those that reflect collaboration between scholars and literacy practitioners in the broader community.

Warnock, a professor of English, edits the journal with Michael R. Moore, an instructor in the Michigan Technological University department of humanities. Publication began in fall 2006.

The journal is staffed by volunteer graduate students in the UA's Rhetoric, Composition and the Teaching of English Program and who are involved in the study and teaching of writing and literacy.

"Literacy comes in many forms. Literacy takes on a different meaning if we are working outside of mainstream education, where there is an amazing array of situations and levels of literacy. The students in the graduate program who teach writing are trained to think about what type of instruction helps people to write," Warnock said. "The approach would be different for a class of refugees who speak 10 different languages than the approach one would take to teach literacy to an adult education class or a citizenship program."

The Community Literacy Journal aims to provide a forum for people working to advance literacy in settings outside mainstream educational institutions, from workplaces to family literacy projects to writing groups in retirement communities to citizenship classes.

"For example, in a recent issue, Eli Goldblatt, associate professor of English at Temple University, chronicles a series of talks with community activists and educators he works with in marginalized neighborhoods of Philadelphia," said Daylanne Markwardt, a doctoral student in the UA's Rhetoric, Compostion and the Teaching of English Program, an adjunct business communication instructor and director of media relations for the journal.

The Journal typically publishes 20 community literacy stories in each edition.

"Judging from the quality and range of the submissions and their international scope, the journal has answered a need," said Warnock. "That's not something you know for sure when you start something like this."

The Council of Editors of Learned Journals, also known as CELJ, is an allied organization of the Modern Language Association, or MLA. CELJ is an organization of editors of scholarly journals devoted to study in the humanistic disciplines and is dedicated to supporting academic journal publishing in the humanities.

Every year CELJ sponsors two sessions at the MLA Convention. The first is devoted to the presentation of CELJ's annual journal awards and to a keynote address that speaks to a topic of particular relevance to journal editors. The awards ceremony recognizes distinguished achievement in two divisions: one for scholarly journals and the other for creative-writing journals.

In the "Scholarly Achievement" division, a winner and runner-up receive plaques or certificates for each of five, usually hotly contested, competitions: Best New Journal, Best Journal Design, Best Special Issue, the Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement and Distinguished Editor.

Winners of the 2008 CELJ awards will be announced at the MLA Convention in San Francisco in December.