FAQs

The founding editors wanted to honor academic excellence by referring to the gold stars that students receive for earning a 3.7 or higher gpa in a given semester.

The Gold Star Journal was founded as a way to provide additional recognition to Citadel students of a well-written research paper beyond the grade. Published authors can list this accomplishment on their resume for professional employment or graduate school.

The Gold Star Journal becomes available for Corps Day, which occurs in mid-March.

Each edition of The Gold Star Journal can be found on this web site, by clicking on Editions.

The Gold Star Journal Academic Conference provides the featured authors the opportunity to speak about their paper to the greater Citadel community. It also allows the photographers and artists to share their work.

The Gold Star Journal Academic Conference occurs shortly after Corps Day, once the journal has been published.

Everyone is welcome. Students (undergraduate and graduate), administrators, faculty, staff, alumni, family, and friends attend the conference. 

A recording of each conference is available on this site. Click on Lectures and then a year.

Editors can be any class year, from freshmen to sophomores to juniors to seniors.

Any Citadel cadet can become an editor of The GSJ.

Interested cadets should contact either Dr. Suzanne Mabrouk or a current editor. 

Students may become editors at the end of the spring semester or the beginning of the fall semester.

A student can be an editor for one or more years.

Authors and photographers can be any class year, from freshmen to seniors, and graduate students, provided they have been accepted into a Citadel program and meet our other criteria.

Any Citadel student, graduate or undergraduate, may be published in the journal. The journal was named in honor of the actual Gold Stars that cadets earn. 

Students do not write for the journal. Students submit papers that they wrote for a Citadel course, study abroad program, or Washington program.

The Gold Star Journal publishes nonfiction papers and photo stories.

Nonfiction papers should be submitted as Word documents on-line by clicking on Paper Submission, under Submissions. 

All editors review nonfiction papers for clarity, depth, originality, organization, and writing. The editors select the best papers from different disciplines to show the broad spectrum of academic achievement across the curriculum.

Photo stories depict experiences mostly through photographs and minimal prose.  The first photo story appeared in the 2019 edition.  William Rasberry wrote this story about his trip to Costa Rica and his introduction to photography.

Photo stories should be submitted as Word documents with photographs on-line by clicking on Photo Story Submission, under Submissions. 

All editors will review submissions for originality, creativity, writing, and quality photography.

Tasteful photographs of anything can be submitted. Photographs of student artwork, life at The Citadel, study abroad experiences, scenery, animals, plants, etc. are appropriate.

Photographs (at least 300 dpi) should be submitted on-line on by clicking on Photograph Submission, under Submissions. Artwork should be scanned for best resolution. Photographs of artwork may be appropriate depending on the quality of the photo.

High quality photographs and artwork are selected for publication if they are unique, creative, historical, innovative, and/or memorable.

Submissions are accepted year-round.

Submissions are usually due the Friday after final exams end each Fall semester.

By the beginning of March, the editors will contact all students who submitted work since the last edition.

From July 1996 through 2010, The GSJ was completely funded by The Provost’s Office. In 2007 and 2008, several textbook publishers provided some funds as well. Since 2011, the funds from The Provost’s Office have been supplemented with donations from Citadel alumni and friends.

The majority of the funds are used to print the journal. Some funds support the annual Gold Star Journal Academic Conference. Since 2012, The GSJ has honored several published students with an award. These awards have slowly evolved over time, as funds have become available.  The current awards include:

• The Boyd Family Distinction Award (previously The Best Overall Submission), $800
• The Best Undergraduate Submission, $600
• The Best Graduate Submission or Most Creative Artwork, $500
• The GSJ Distinction in Photography, $400
• The Best Photograph, $400
• The Best Oral Presentation, $600
• The People’s Choice Award, $100.

In Fall 2019, Dr. and Mrs. James F. Boyd, Class of 1971, established The Gold Star Journal Excellence Award.  This award provides funds towards the first six Student Awards.

In addition to a check, each awardee receives a trophy.  All authors and photographers receive a certificate of publication.

If you would like to donate to The Gold Star Journal, please visit our Donations Page. We greatly appreciate all donations. We will use them wisely and responsibly. Thank you for your consideration and generosity.

To establish a fund for The GSJ, please contact Mr. Bobby Houck of The Citadel Foundation and Dr. Suzanne T. Mabrouk, the Advisor of The GSJ.