For the past 23 years, students have worked together to write, design, fund and promote a unique publication as part of the course in Communication Studies, offered by the University of Malta.

A group of 25 communications students are currently in the process of producing a magazine called RAW. The idea behind this year’s publication is to include stories about real, unfiltered experiences told from a unique angle.

The stories that will feature in the magazine are all linked to a different part of the human body, as an attempt to recreate the 'raw' experience of what it means to be human.

The stories in the magazine deal with art, hardships and perceptions of the body. These stories involve reflections on current social issues, such as the #Metoo movement and the question of freedom of speech.

Raw also includes accounts from individuals who wanted to share their personal and untold stories, gathering viewpoints from different people in order to create user generated content.

In anticipation of the publication, a series of experiential articles and blog posts are being shared on the online platform, www.tellingraw.com, where a few of the Raw team members tried out different things, from changing food diets to making handmade products from minimal ingredients .

The class, titled 'Magazine and Digital Publishing, was started by Ġorġ Mallia – now head of the Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences – and is currently being led by Malcolm Bonello, an ex-student of the MaKS Faculty himself, who said:

“ I take the approach that you will only learn to do it once you do it.’So that is how the course is built. You are forced to write an article so you have to learn to do it. You’re forced to design the magazine, to take photos, to find people to support us, so you have to learn to do it.”

The publication will be released in May, together with the magazine launch. For more information about the project, you can visit the Facebook page @tellingraw, Instagram @tellingraw or go to the website; https://tellingraw.com/.