Like an over-anxious youngster standing at the edge of the pool with little knowledge of how to swim, Seth Allen is preparing to take over The Century magazine.
“I am diving into a deep pool,” said the sophomore studying physics.
Allen has not worked for a publication and has little experience writing, but the Latter-day Saints Institute of Religion has pegged him to take over the student LDS magazine that boasts a readership of about 10,000 each month.
“I have a lot of faith that this is where I am supposed to be,” Allen said. “A lot of it depends on God, not on me at all. My success as editor relies on me being an instrument in God’s hands.”
The editorship of The Century is a religious calling, just like that of any position on the Latter-day Saints Student Association council.
Allen has yet to hire his executive editors or his staff, all of whom are volunteers. He sees recruiting and managing his staff as his biggest challenge.
“I want about 100 people on staff this year,” he said.
These mostly institute students would write, produce, distribute and market the magazine, which just finished its second year of publication. Allen was not a member of The Century staff this year.
“I have only been involved in The Century for about a week now,” he said.
While he has not worked for The Century, Allen has read it and liked what he saw.
“There has been some incredible growth with the magazine. I am mostly impressed with the incredible quality, the color cover, art work and stories worthy of a professional publication,” he said. “Another challenge will be to improve on what it was last year.”
Steve Nelson is the former editor in chief of The Century. He is graduating this year. Nelson said he is “certain we have doubled the readership this year.”
Nelson was hampered by a lack of resources. Volunteers primarily produced The Century from their homes. Next year, Allen will move into The Century’s office, located in the new institute building.
The Century increased distribution and the number of copies printed. Nelson is proud of the organizational system he set up.
“We also took some great strides in bilinguality,” Nelson said.
For The Century, bilinguality means writing text that both LDS students and non-LDS students can understand and relate to.
“We want the magazine to be comfortable and easy to read,” Allen said.
Allen said the mission of The Century is three-fold: to provide a spiritual resource, to report on happenings that are important to the institute and to provide a means of communication between the LDS and non-LDS communities.
Allen does not want to discuss most of his plans for The Century until he hires his staff, but he does plan to increase distribution and would like to make the entire magazine in full color if at all possible.
Allen is still accepting applications for volunteers, which can be found within the institute.