If you are a national author submitting to the chapbook or novella contests, please submit your work to the appropriate Book Prize forms.
If you are a national or international author or publisher submitting to the Whirling Prize, please submit to its form.
If you are a student, alumni, or faculty/staff member at University of Indianapolis, please scroll down to find the appropriate category to submit your work for the Etchings Literary & Fine Arts Magazine. You may submit to more than one category for an issue.
UIndy students, faculty, staff, and alumni submit audio files for original musical compositions and spoken word/slam poetry under this category for our Etchings Literary and Fine Arts Magazine. We use a blind submission process, and we appreciate your help with this process:
- Submit up to 5 pieces of musical compositions and/or spoken word/slam poetry in .mp3 file format.
- Please submit a separate form for each piece (so, up to 5 forms/submissions for the audio file category--it's OK to only include your bio and composer's statement/poet's statement on your first form).
- Please include only 1 song/poem in a file.
- Please do not include your name as part of your recording or as part of your file's name. Label your file with the submission title.
- If a music composition, we hope you will include the score to your song (or lyrics, if a full score is not available) in a separate file. Please do not include your name as part of your score or as part of your file's name. Label your file with the submission title.
- When you upload your file(s), please use the file's name.
- Please include a bio (no more than 50 words) that you'd love to see published in our magazine and on our website!
- We encourage you to to submit an composer's statement or poet's statement (no more than 100 words) for your piece(s) as well. This option offers you an opportunity to put your song or poem into context.
Note: Musical composition pieces selected for publication will have their audio and sheet music (if a music composition) published on the Etching Press website at http://etchings.uindy.edu/etchings-literary-journal/. The publication will be listed in the print/archived issue as well. Spoken word pieces' audio will also be published at this site, and their text will be printed in the print/archived issue.
UIndy students, faculty, staff, and alumni submit poetry under this category for our Etchings Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
We use a blind submission process, and we appreciate your help with this process:
- Submit up to 5 poems (no greater than 10 pages each).
- Please submit a separate form for each poem (so, up to 5 forms/submissions for the poetry category--it's OK to only include your bio and writer's statement on your first form).
- Please include only 1 poem in a file.
- Please do not include your name inside your file or as part of your file's name. Label your file with the submission title.
- When you upload your file, please use the file's name.
- Please include a bio (no more than 50 words) that you'd love to see published in our magazine!
- We encourage you to to submit a writer's statement (no more than 100 words) for your piece as well. This option offers you an opportunity to put your piece into context. Here is a past statement:
Example Writer's Statement
"Hunger" [poem], by Natalie McCann: "I wrote 'Hunger' as my response to a new love and desire for the person's presence. I wrote this poem quickly as an attempt to create discourse that projects an honest and creative reaction to the human body. Love is often communicated through physical touch and I wanted to represent this feeling in a lovingly violent diction."
UIndy students, faculty, staff, and alumni submit short stories under this category for our Etchings Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
We use a blind submission process, and we appreciate your help with this process:
- Submit up to 3 short stories (of no more than 5,000 words each).
- Please submit a separate form for each story (so, up to 3 forms/submissions for the short story category--it's OK to only include your bio and writer's statement on your first form).
- Please include only 1 story in a file.
- Please do not include your name inside your file or as part of your file's name. Label your file with the submission title.
- When you upload your file, please use the file's name.
- Please include a bio (no more than 50 words) that you'd love to see published in our magazine!
- We encourage you to to submit a writer's statement (no more than 100 words) for your piece as well. This option offers you an opportunity to put your piece into context. Here is a past statement:
Example Writer's Statement
"Mirror Girls" [fiction] by Cathy Watness: "Intimacy is something we all crave in one way or another. Many people look to sex for intimacy, and while sex can and many times is an intimate experience, the concept of intimacy is more complex. Overall, this piece demonstrates that intimacy is a spiritual connection that both encompasses and goes beyond the physical."
UIndy students, faculty, staff, and alumni submit essays under this category for our Etchings Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
We use a blind submission process, and we appreciate your help with this process:
- Submit up to 3 creative nonfiction essays (no more than 5,000 words each).
- Please submit a separate form for each essay (so, up to 3 forms/submissions for the essay category--it's OK to only include your bio and writer's statement on your first form).
- Please include only 1 essay in a file.
- Please do not include your name inside your file or as part of your file's name. Label your file with the submission title.
- When you upload your file, please use the file's name.
- Please include a bio (no more than 50 words) that you'd love to see published in our magazine!
- We encourage you to to submit a writer's statement (no more than 100 words) for your piece as well. This option offers you an opportunity to put your piece into context. Here is a past statement:
Example Writer's Statement
"Little Atrocities" [essay] by Jessica Marvel: "This piece is an essays, actually real and actually true. Sometimes when you're young, it's hard to know what guilt feels like until you're knee deep in it and someone's disappointed in you. Like I've said, I've never told my parents this story out of fear of what they might think of me. It's a story that hurts to tell, but it's about time I tell it."
UIndy students, faculty, staff, and alumni submit visual materials under this category for our Etchings Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
We use a blind submission process, and we appreciate your help with this process:
- Submit up to 5 pieces of graphic art in .tiff format.
- Please flatten files to 300 ppi in *.tiff CMYK 8 bit files, no more than 10 inches high by 7 inches wide. (For best results view in sRGB.)
- Please submit a separate form for each graphic (so, up to 5 forms/submissions for the essay category--it's OK to only include your bio and writer's statement on your first form).
- Please include only 1 image/piece in a file.
- UNLESS you are requesting the editors to review a series. All pieces in a series should be included together (in the order you wish them to be viewed) in the same file.
- Please do not include your name inside your file or as part of your file's name. Label your file with the submission title.
- When you upload your file(s), please use the file's name.
- Please share the size and medium of your piece.
- Please include a bio (no more than 100 words) that you'd love to see published in our magazine! Here's a link to our last issue. For examples, check out the "Contributor Bios" at the back of the magazine (p. 83): https://issuu.com/etchingspress/docs/etchings31.1issuufrfinal.
- We encourage you to submit an artist's statement (no more than 100 words) for your piece as well. This option offers you an opportunity to put your piece into context. Here are past statements:
Example Artist's Statements
"Helicopter Detail" [photograph], Paul Anderson: "Another photo from Summer 2018. This is a closeup of an acrylic painting dripped on glass, with black ink and water. The blue sky and brown hills were brushed on the opposite side. The painting depicts the horror of the bombing in Syria. The panel measures 1 ft. by 2 ft. The detail section is about 5" by 5"."
"Cradle" [sculpture], Harley Engleking: "Inspired by Newton's Cradle, I put my own spin on the mechanism by taking a more natural approach to the materials. I collected found wood from areas spanning between my hometown of Seymour, all the way up to the university's campus. I assembled the structure using natural jute embellished with wooden beads. The goal of this piece was to juxtapose my assemblage of natural materials with the mechanism's usual stainless steel structure."
"The You that Makes You Happy" [illustration], Jessica Marvel: "Everyone is looking to find the place where we belong, and find out who we are. Over the summer, I really got to know some great people in the furry fandom that helped me to get out of my shell. These pieces, portraits of the human and their furry characters, are basically love letters to the fandom. Thanking them for helping me to discover myself, and hoping that others can do the same as well. A lot of people tend to give the furry community a bad wrap because of the sexual stuff that comes with it, but it's just like any other community only filled with sweet and interesting individuals. All of these were done with virtual art over the course of many hours."
UIndy students, faculty, staff, and alumni can submit scenes and excerpts from scripts under this category for our Etchings Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
We use a blind submission process, and we appreciate your help with this process:
- Submit up to 3 scenes (of no more than 10 pages each). Please separate if they come from a larger, longer script.
- Please submit a separate form for each scene (so, up to 3 forms/submissions for the scenes category--it's OK to only include your bio and writer's statement on your first form).
- Please include only 1 scene in a file, typed following guidelines for scripts for stage, television, stage, etc.
- Please do not include your name inside your file or as part of your file's name. Label your file with the submission title.
- When you upload your file, please use the file's name.
- Please include a bio (no more than 40 words) that you'd love to see published in our magazine!
- We encourage you to to submit a writer's statement (no more than 100 words) for your piece as well. This option offers you an opportunity to put your piece into context.
UIndy students submit solicited visual materials that illustrate the annual English awards under this category for our Etchings Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
We use a blind submission process, and we appreciate your help with this process:
- Submit up to 5 pieces of graphic art in .tiff format.
- Please make sure that your files are at least 600 ppi for color and 300 ppi for black/white.
- Please submit a separate form for each graphic (so, up to 5 forms/submissions for the essay category--it's OK to only include your bio and writer's statement on your first form).
- Please include only 1 image/piece in a file.
- Please do not include your name inside your file or as part of your file's name. Label your file with the submission title.
- When you upload your file(s), please use the file's name.
- Please share the size and medium of your piece.
- Please include a bio (no more than 50 words) that you'd love to see published in our magazine!
- We encourage you to to submit an artist's statement (no more than 100 words) for your piece as well. This option offers you an opportunity to put your piece into context. Here are past statements:
Example Artist's Statements
"Helicopter Detail" [photograph], Paul Anderson: "Another photo from Summer 2018. This is a closeup of an acrylic painting dripped on glass, with black ink and water. The blue sky and brown hills were brushed on the opposite side. The painting depicts the horror of the bombing in Syria. The panel measures 1 ft. by 2 ft. The detail section is about 5" by 5"."
"Cradle" [sculpture], Harley Engleking: "Inspired by Newton's Cradle, I put my own spin on the mechanism by taking a more natural approach to the materials. I collected found wood from areas spanning between my hometown of Seymour, all the way up to the university's campus. I assembled the structure using natural jute embellished with wooden beads. The goal of this piece was to juxtapose my assemblage of natural materials with the mechanism's usual stainless steel structure."
"The You that Makes You Happy" [illustration], Jessica Marvel: "Everyone is looking to find the place where we belong, and find out who we are. Over the summer, I really got to know some great people in the furry fandom that helped me to get out of my shell. These pieces, portraits of the human and their furry characters, are basically love letters to the fandom. Thanking them for helping me to discover myself, and hoping that others can do the same as well. A lot of people tend to give the furry community a bad wrap because of the sexual stuff that comes with it, but it's just like any other community only filled with sweet and interesting individuals. All of these were done with virtual art over the course of many hours."