SUBMISSIONS

Submit to the Literary Magazine

Submissions for Issue 9 |Spring 2026 are now open.

Please follow us on social media for more information on new publications and submission(s). Check out our flash issues for more opportunities to be published.

For Issue 9, all poetry submissions by undergraduate students will be considered for the O'Hagan Poetry Prize. Click here for a full description.

Issue 9|Spring 2026 accepts submissions from all members of the Catholic University community, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Note: unlike our Flash Issues, our Main Issues are open only to the university community.

You may send in submissions for up to three categories for each volume (limits on category submissions are listed below) - if you have more submissions, please reserve the others to submit when we are accepting submissions for the next volume! Each title should be submitted separately. For example, if you would like to submit 2 poems, please fill out the submission form for each of the poems.

We do accept submissions in multiple genres (you may submit, for example, a poem, a story, and a photograph for publication in the same issue). Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but we do ask that you let us know in your cover letter if the pieces are going to other journals, and please let us know as soon as you decide to publish elsewhere. Finally, the magazine is put together over the course of our editorial class and that means you won’t hear back from us until the middle of the semester.

Thank you for your patience! Questions? Please contact the Vermilion editors at eng-vermilion@cua.edu.

Directions / Rules

Poetry

Please individually submit up to five poems for consideration.

We welcome free verse and formal poetry, as well as works that are highly experimental in content and form.

Each poem must be submitted as an individual document.

Fiction

Please individually submit up to two pieces of literary short fiction (each piece should be no more than 4500 words for consideration).

Excerpts of longer works, including novellas and novels, are acceptable if the excerpt is also successful as a stand-alone piece and does not exceed the word limit. We welcome work that is highly experimental in content and / or form, though our ability to format published work will be determined by what is possible in Google Sites.

Each work of fiction must be submitted as an individual document.

Creative Nonfiction

We accept creative nonfiction on a variety of subjects and in multiple forms. Please individually submit up to two pieces of nonfiction (each piece should be no more 4500 words) for consideration.

Excerpts of longer works, including book length memoirs, are acceptable if the excerpt is also successful as a stand-alone piece and does not exceed the word limit, and we welcome work that is highly experimental in content and / or form.

If submitting work under the creative nonfiction heading, the content should be based on either the author's experiences, the account of someone the author has personally met, or that the author has researched. Work that takes an excessive amount of creative license regarding the work's content (excluding literary devices) should be submitted as fiction.

Each work of creative nonfiction must be submitted as an individual document.

Visual Art

We are always actively looking for original art of various media to be used as cover art and to be featured in our pages. Please individually submit up to four pieces for consideration and indicate in your cover letter whether you would like your work to be considered for selection as cover art for the volume (in addition to being published in the issue). We accept art which considers a variety of subjects and comes in multiple forms. We welcome experimental work.

Please note: we can only publish images that are available in a high resolution file (at least 300 dpi). If you do not have a high resolution version of your image please do not submit it.

Each work of visual art must be submitted as an individual file. Please include the title of your work and a description of materials/media.

Screenwriting and Theatrical Arts

Please individually submit up to two pieces of screenwriting or other dramatic / theatrical writing (each piece should be no more than 20 pages). We also ask that you include a synopsis of the screenplay in your cover letter and adhere to screenplay formatting. We welcome work that is experimental in content and / or form. Submissions could include: monologues, scenes or excerpts from a play or screenplay, original short films (video submissions must be less than 10 minutes, and both a YouTube link to the video and the screenplay must be submitted).

Each work of screenwriting/theatrical arts must be submitted as an individual file.

Performance

Please individually submit up to three videos or photos of a performance. We also ask that you include a description and/or artist's statement regarding the performance in your cover letter and include the title of the piece, date, and all artists involved in the performance, including the name of the photographer/videographer, and their affiliation with Catholic University. The performance should mainly feature artists who are eligible for publication in Vermilion (current grad/undergrad students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Catholic University). Submissions could include: dramatic performances, musical performances, poetry readings, dance, performance art, etc. - all videos must be submitted as a YouTube link.

Each performance must be submitted as an individual file.

Please proofread your work carefully before submitting.

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