Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU)

Eastern New Mexico University’s literary magazine, El Portal, offers a unique venue for the work of writers, artists and photographers

Though founded in 1939 as the creative forum for the students, faculty, and staff of Eastern New Mexico University, it was Dr. Jack Williamson who gave us the name El Portal, along with his vision to showcase the region through art. 

Since then, we hold a soft spot for the West, but our eclectic tastes make us open to everything. Our mission is in our name: El Portal is the door. 

We open our doors to poetry and fiction, photography and art, non-fiction and flash works as we strive to share works that transgress boundaries, straddle borders, and most importantly, move us.

El Portal

El Portal accepts creative non-fiction up to 4,000 words in length. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact El Portal's editor at el.portal@enmu.edu.

Creative Nonfiction

General call

El Portal accepts short stories up to 4,000 words and flash fiction between 500-1000 words in length.   
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact El Portal's editor at el.portal@enmu.edu.

Short Stories & Flash Fiction

This category is open to current ENMU students ONLY.
Are you an artist, photographer, or graphic designer? El Portal seeks new cover art for its Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 issues. Your work should be in black & white or grayscale and reflect the southwest, sci-fi, or any strange combination of the two. We welcome weird and eclectic. We are open to this prompt being interpreted very widely! There is no limit to the number of designs you can submit.
1st place: $100 and design used as the cover for El Portal Spring 2026
2nd place: $75 and used as the cover for the Fall 2025 online issue
3rd place: $50 and used as the cover for the Fall 2026 online issue

 
Note: the cover will be roughly 5 x 7 inches. We will work with winners to produce high quality copies of their work to use.

ENMU El Portal Cover Design Contest

El Portal accepts poetry submissions (3-5 poems maximum).  
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact El Portal's editor at el.portal@enmu.edu.

Poetry

Art and photography submissions to El Portal should be 300 dpi JPEG files. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact El Portal's editor at el.portal@enmu.edu.

Art & Photography

This category is open to current ENMU students ONLY.
Please submit either one short story (up to 4000 words), a creative nonfiction essay (up to 4000 words), up to five piece of visual art, or up to five poems in a single document.     
You may submit in more than one genre, but only once per genre (for visual arts you may need to submit each piece separately depending on file size).   
For any questions, please email Dr. Megan Arlett (megan.arlett@enmu.edu).

This category is open to current ENMU students ONLY.

Student Creative Prizes 2026

El Portal accepts short stories up to 4,000 words and flash fiction up to 1000 words in length.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact El Portal's editor at el.portal@enmu.edu.

Fiction

El Portal accepts creative non-fiction up to 4,000 words in length (though this is not a strict limit and we will accept pieces that justify their length).
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact El Portal's editor at el.portal@enmu.edu.

El Portal

Highlights

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