Founded in 2016, Pinewood’s award-winning literary magazine, Tabula Rasa, has served as a space for students to display their artistic and creative talents for a decade. Over the past ten years, the magazine has collected hundreds of student submissions to display in their yearly magazine publications.
Its current advisor is Holly Coty, a Pinewood English Teacher.
“Tabula Rasa is intended to be a celebration of the literary and artistic work that our students at Pinewood do,” Coty said. “This is the fruit of their imagination and their efforts.”
Tabula Rasa, a phrase translated from Latin meaning “blank slate,” aptly reflects the goals and objectives the editors have for the magazine.
“‘Tabula Rasa’ means [to us that] this is the creative space, the space we’ve made for the written word [and] the art form to become a space of student expression,” Coty said.
This year’s Editors in Chief, senior Esha Joshi and sophomore Ella Kim, mentioned that their roles include organizing and publishing the submissions to the program.
“Our responsibilities are putting together the actual formatting of the book, reading all the submissions, and deciding who gets in[to the publication],” Kim said.
Tabula Rasa’s quarterly themes, like past ones such as “Layers,” “Chaos,” and “Contrast,” are often selected to accommodate many different art forms.
“We pick pretty broad themes so that people can interpret them as they see fit,” Joshi said.
While most of the submissions are writing pieces, the staff tries to promote other non-written media, and Tabula Rasa has recently seen an increase in visual art. Students can submit works to the magazine by contacting Coty, Joshi, or Kim.
“We want to encourage a wider breadth of art so that people can feel like whatever art form they’re interested in gets expressed,” Joshi said.
Tabula Rasa has received many awards over the years, including awards from the American Scholastic Press Association. Last year, Tabula Rasa received the 2025 Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines award from the National Council for Teachers of English.
Coty said that Tabula Rasa has more in store, and she is excited to see the magazine’s growth with every issue. As for Kim, she hopes that Pinewood students continue to embrace their artwork and contribute to the magazine.
“I hope people push the boundaries of creativity and take more risks with what they do with their art,” Kim said.
