HAVERHILL — Parnassus, Northern Essex Community College's literary and arts magazine, has arrived along with national accolades.

The publication was recently named the second-place winner in the Eastern Division of the 2008 Community College Humanities Association literary magazine awards.

This is the first time in its 43-year history that Parnassus has won national recognition. The students who make up the magazine's staff, as well as Patrick Lochelt, the English professor who is their adviser, and Susan Stehfest, graphic designer, are ecstatic.

Denya Blanco of Methuen, who aspires to attend Amherst College after completing her studies at Northern Essex, did not have anything published in the award-winning '07-'08 edition of Parnassus, but she explained, "I have a voice in what gets in."

She and the others who work on the magazine don't have titles.

"We're very humble," she said.

"We look for creativity. We look for good writing," she said. They like pieces that are original, with a different twist. Writers of cliche-strewn work need not submit, they added.

Meghan Dempsey, of Haverhill, had two poems published in the award-winning edition, "Echoes of the Past" and "Never Took Much."

The first four lines of "Echoes of the Past:"

This air is sparked with something

an energy I long ago had felt

surrounded by these overwhelming embers

tears begin to drip, as this ice starts to melt

Dempsey, who aspires to become a psychiatrist, spoke for many writers when she said, "I need motivation. I have to be able to feel emotions."

Sophia Herring, a freshman from Methuen who hopes to become a graphic artist, had two photos and a mixed-media painting featured in Parnassus. The painting includes the upper body of a woman with a patch of hot pink duct tape over her mouth. The word "Censored" is placed across the middle and there's a colorful border around the figure.

Blanco said Parnassus usually receives about 150 submissions per semester, mostly from students. She and the other staffers make the selections, winnowing the total to maybe 30 poems and short stories, plus 20 photos and art works.

Generally, they don't edit poems, but "sometimes we see potential in a poem, but a need for refinement," said Blanco.

Lochelt, who manages to teach classes also at Middlesex Community College and University of Massachusetts at Lowell, has advised the publication for three years. He previously taught in California, at American River College in Sacramento. He guided a similar publication, American River Review, which recently won "best in the nation" honors among college arts magazines.

Parnassus was a twice-yearly publication for many years. Lochelt changed it to an annual magazine, so that the publication's budget could be concentrated on one issue rather than two. He and his staff also worked to "increase the awareness" of Parnassus, in order to obtain more entries from which to choose.

Stehfest's work on design has been "absolutely fabulous," he said.

Lochelt said Parnassus' new Web site, www.parnassuslitmag.com, will enhance the magazine.

And what about the name? Parnassus is a mountain in central Greece where, according to Greek mythology, the Muses went to receive creative inspiration.