The global online literary platform for high school students. We invite high school students worldwide to submit creative writing, join our editorial staff, write blog posts, take workshops, and grow into leadership roles.

Polyphony Lit is a global online literary platform dedicated to high school students, offering opportunities to submit creative writing, join the editorial staff, write blog posts, participate in workshops, and assume leadership roles. Central to its mission is the development of young writers, with editors providing feedback on every submission. (polyphonylit.org)

The magazine hosts a series of seasonal contests throughout the year, including the Summer Contest, Fall Contest, Winter Contest, and heritage-focused contests such as the Latin Heritage & Native American Heritage Contest, Black History Contest, Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Contest, and Pride Contest. These contests are open to high school students aged 14-18 worldwide, with specific submission periods and guidelines. Winners receive publication in the annual volume, eligibility for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards, editorial feedback, and scholarships for Polyphony Lit's editorial training courses. (polyphonylit.org)

The Claudia Ann Seaman Awards for Young Writers were established in memory of a young poet, acknowledging excellence in teen writing across poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Nominees are selected from accepted works, with winners chosen by a panel of professional authors to receive cash awards and honorable mentions. (polyphonylit.org)

Polyphony Lit also offers an editorial training course open to high school and college students, teaching skills in editing poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The self-paced course costs $99, with group discounts available, and completion qualifies participants to join the editorial staff or start their own literary magazine. (polyphonylit.org)

The magazine's impact is highlighted through testimonials, such as Alex Kotlowitz's praise: "Polyphony is a find. An eclectic collection of prose and poetry, it's like nothing else around. It's like a Paris Review for the young. Daring. Provocative. Exhilarating. And just plain fun." (polyphonylit.org)

Polyphony Lit's commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive literary community is evident in its range of contests, workshops, and editorial opportunities, all designed to nurture the talents of young writers and editors worldwide.

Finding magazines that accept work from writers under eighteen can be challenging. These publications explicitly welcome submissions from young writers.

Lit Mags for Writers Under 18

Everyone loves online mags! They make it easier to share your work, and they require less resources to get up and running, so more people can start them. They also can fold more easily :/ 
But not these mags! They've been around for years, they're consistent, they rock!

Online Lit Mags that are 15+ years Old

Polyphony Lit.

Art Guidelines
Artist Qualifications​

  High school students (aged 14-18) from anywhere in the world are eligible to submit.
  For the art category, we welcome multiple submissions.

Artwork Guidelines​​

  Submitted artwork will be considered for the following categories: (1) Cover Art (which will appear both on the website and in print), and (2) Promotional Art (which will appear on social media, on our website, and in our online workshops).
  Images must be a .PNG or .JPG file.
  Images must be at least 2700 x 1800 pixels. Images with low resolution will not be eligible for cover art.
  Images must have a resolution of at least 300 DPI (dots per inch).
  Portrait orientation (6 x 9 inches or equivalent dimensions) is preferred.
  Polyphony means “many voices,” which you can use as inspiration for your design. You are not limited to that theme, as we are looking for the creativity and imagination of your visual art to be a match for the wide-ranging literary works contained in our annual volume.
  We accept simultaneous submissions but if the piece is accepted elsewhere, please notify us immediately. Only previously unpublished artwork is eligible.
  All submissions must be original and may include drawings, paintings, collages, photographs, or mixed media.

Using Submittable​

  In the submission form, please select "Cover Art" as the genre for your submission.
  Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
  Upload only one piece per submission file. To submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
  There is no fee to submit.
  We do not provide feedback on cover art submissions. If your piece is accepted for publication, we will notify you at the close of our submission cycle.
  Please note that submissions will remain open until May 31st 2026 and selections will be made around June 2026.
  If you are submitting visual art, you give us permission to publish your work as cover art, t-shirt art, or promotional art on Polyphony Lit's platforms as outlined by Polyphony Lit's Copyright Policies.

High school students (aged 14-18) from anywhere in the world are eligible to submit.
For the art category, we welcome multiple submissions.

Volume 22 Cover Art / Interior Art

Palestine Blog Series Submission Guidelines
Submissions will open on November 6th 2025 and will remain open until February 15th 2026 or until we reach our submission cap of 200 submissions.
Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit's Volume 20 and Polyphony Lit's seasonal contests.​ Constructive critique will not be provided for submission to this blog series.
Writer Qualifications​
 We are primarily seeking work written by Palestinian creators aged 12-25 (this could include writers currently living in Palestine, writers who are refugees due to the genocide, or writers of Palestinian descent from around the world who are looking for a platform to express their advocacy). However, if you believe that you have a valuable perspective to share on the humanitarian crisis in Palestine, we are open to multiple perspectives. Please keep in mind that through this series, we intend to examine current events through a humanitarian lens, with a focus on how the genocide affects the lives of civilians.
We will primarily consider works written in English. However, if you would like to submit a piece written in Arabic or another language, then please email julian@polyphonylit.org to inquire if any our editors would be open to provide translations in another language.

Palestine Series for 2026

 The Queer Issue Is Now is a creative anthology of young LGBTQ+ writers and is a part of the It Gets Better Changemakers grant. For more details on the anthology, see below. 

We invite queer youth to submit fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction to this special issue of Polyphony Lit, centered on featuring LGBTQ writing. Selected pieces will appear in a collection distributed to 75 schools nationwide, offering students a set of voices that affirm the necessity and existence of queer futures.

The theme for this contest is “All The Stars Look Very Different Today," which is---of course---a nod to David Bowie's "Space Oddity." Bowie's legacy as an icon in queer spaces was always about his continued drive to reinvent and to break the boundaries of performance. We hope that you, too, will break the boundaries of creativity in the work you submit.

For this theme, you may consider the many ways queer and trans people have experienced this shift across time, especially moments when the accepted picture of the world no longer matched lived reality. Whether you draw inspiration from the lives of queer figures like Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, and Frida Kahlo, or from broader historical moments such as protests or dehumanizing laws, find a voice that's distinctly your own. Whatever direction you take, connect it to the lyric's core idea: that there is a "before" and an "after," and queer people are almost always writing from inside that moment of transition, naming the difference plainly. 

Looking for examples that Polyphony Lit has published already? Then check out "Just watching ducks with you" by Annette Lin and "i pray to angry goddesses" by Giya Agarwal.

Interested in honing your poetry-writing skills for the contest? Then try taking our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days. This workshop will help you to brainstorm, draft, and revise poems of your own! Interested in becoming an editor for Polyphony Lit? Take our editorial training course and join the staff!

High school students who identify as LGBTQIA+ are eligible to submit. We understand that the LGBTQIA+ community covers a wide spectrum of identities, so we hope that you will not be limited by this term in any way. If you do not fall under these demographics, you are still welcome to submit to our upcoming seasonal contests.

LGBTQ+ Anthology

Black History Contest 2026
January 1st - March 31st 2026


In celebration of Black History Month, Polyphony Lit is honored to host a special contest for  submitters with Black, African, and African American backgrounds. The theme for the contest  is “Through the Melanin Lens: Exploring the Black Gaze Through the Chromatics of Culture.”  For more details on the contest prize, see below: 
Black History Month recognizes the moments captured and forgotten that celebrate the vital  contributions made by Black people in American history and culture. When written history falls  short of expressing the Black experience, it is important to look at visual memories, both past  and present.  
Sight has been the gateway to human experience for centuries. In an era of innovation,  technology has further advanced the ways sight has affected people around the world. We witnessed Nelson Mandela win the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize and become South Africa’s first  Black President in 1994; we saw Barack Obama’s historic inauguration as the first African  American President of the United States in 2009; and we stood witness to the tragedy of George  Floyd in 2020. Yet while these are the stories the world knows, they are not the only stories of  struggle and triumph that Black people have seen and faced. 
What does it mean to look at your life through the melanin lens? You may write a creative  nonfiction piece that explores the darkness that you see when you close your eyes. You may craft  a fiction piece that is centered around news media and the influence that may be gained by sight. You may pen a poem that uncovers the effects of historical visions on your own culture. The  choice is yours! 
We remind you that there are no limits to the creativity that encompasses Black History Month. Take chances, be bold, and own your work. This is your chance to show the world how sight has  shaped your perspective!
Interested in honing your poetry-writing skills for the contest? Then try taking our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days. This workshop will help you to brainstorm, draft, and revise poems of your own!​
Interested in becoming an editor for Polyphony Lit? Take our editorial training course and join the staff!   
Black History Contest Guidelines

  Submissions will open on January 1st and will remain open until March 31st or until we reach our submission cap of 200 submissions.
  Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit Volume 20.​ Submissions to Polyphony Lit Volume 20 will receive feedback from the editors, but for the seasonal contests, only the winning submissions will receive feedback from the judge.
  If you have already submitted your work to the Volume 20 category, then please do not send the same submission to the contest category.
  If you submit to the contest category first and your work is declined, then you may submit it to the Volume 21 category after the contest is finished.

Writer Qualifications​

  High school students aged 14-18 who identify as Black / African American / African / Afro-Latinx are eligible to submit. For ease of reference, we roughly define this as writers of Black or African origin (Eg: African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somalian, etc). However, we understand that people of African descent are incredibly diverse and often come from many different backgrounds, so we hope that you will not be limited in any way by these categories. In the interest of reaching a diverse array of demographics, we are also open to submissions from writers who may identify as Middle Eastern / North African. For the purpose of this contest, we simply use the term “African” in a geographic sense. If you do not fall under these demographics, but are still interested in writing about the theme, then feel free to submit to our Winter Contest submission category!
  We do not accept submissions from editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.
  Submit a maximum of three pieces.
  If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document will be withdrawn, and you will be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.
  We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.
  Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards.

Length

  Poetry must be 80 lines or less.
  Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.

Formatting

  Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.
  Submissions longer than one page should have the page number inserted at the top (right or left side) of every page, as it would help our Judge specify the location for their commentary.
  We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.
  We prefer common conventions:               
    
      Color: Black & white
      Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles
      Font Type: Times or Times New Roman
      Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.   
    
     
  

Using Submittable

  Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
  Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
  Submissions for this contest are free.
  There is a submission cap of 200 submissions, so we may close submissions for the contest before the deadline if we receive 200 submissions. We recommend submitting early, to ensure that you do not miss the deadline.

Prize
There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:

  Publication in Polyphony Lit Volume 21
  Eligibility for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards
  Editorial feedback from the Contest Judge
  Social media posts announcing the winners
  A full scholarship for Polyphony Lit’s "How to be a Literary Editor" course. Upon completion of the course, students will be eligible to join the editorial staff of Polyphony Lit!
  Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the Judge.

Additional Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction​

  At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.
  We do not look for op-ed pieces, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays.
  We would advise reading some samples of our work, in order to understand the material that we publish. Here are some samples of creative nonfiction that we have published:
  Memories of the Boy I Didn't Know
  responses to love
  Holiday in a Burning City

High school students aged 14-18 who identify as Black / African American / African / Afro-Latinx are eligible to submit. For ease of reference, we roughly define this as writers of Black or African origin (Eg: African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somalian, etc). However, we understand that people of African descent are incredibly diverse and often come from many different backgrounds, so we hope that you will not be limited in any way by these categories. In the interest of reaching a diverse array of demographics, we are also open to submissions from writers who may identify as Middle Eastern / North African. For the purpose of this contest, we simply use the term “African” in a geographic sense. If you do not fall under these demographics, but are still interested in writing about the theme, then feel free to submit to our Winter Contest submission category!

Black History Contest 2026

Polyphony Lit Winter Contest 2026:
Subversion
The theme for this contest is “Subversion.” For more details on the contest prize, see below.While the arrival of the holiday season comes adorned with classic traditions and cheer, this prompt invites you to think about the unorthodox. Proffer your own twist on common motifs and symbolism, toy with structure, invert tropes and expectations—there is no right or wrong interpretation of the prompt. All that is asked for is your own unique foray into the easy assumptions we lapse into when approaching stories, people, and just about everything else.
As normalcy is a malleable concept, subversion is as well. A non-exhaustive list, color symbolism; stereotypes; a poem’s rhyme and meter; behavioral norms; and literary tropes and genres may all well be subjects of consideration. Think of the color red traditionally denoting violence. Think of what is associated with a story when it is categorized as romance, or horror, or fantasy. Think of your lived experiences, through both the lenses of what others have come to expect of you, as well as what you have come to consider as normal behaviors and values.
Take a caged bird, for instance. It's the quintessential model of restriction and stagnation. Then, let's consider the circumstances. Say that the cage is its safest option when confronted with a predator. Does it, then, still impart a message of unilateral confinement? Arguably not. Although even the thematic ideals of the caged bird change—from freedom and its absence, to the requirements of survival—the bird is still, by dictionary definition, trapped. So, before the chiming of the bells heralds the arrival of a pristine new year, may we pause to consider the mechanisms behind our expectations and work to subvert them.
Interested in learning how to write poetry with experienced writers and editors from around the the globe? Our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days is open for registrations on a rolling basis.
Winter Contest Guidelines

  Submissions will open on January 1st and will remain open until March 31st. The first 200 submissions to the contest are free, but the contest will not close entirely after we reach 200 submissions. Once the contest collects 200 submissions, there will be a $4 submission fee for additional submissions, but the contest category will remain open.
  Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit Volume 20.​ Submissions that were submitted to Polyphony Lit Volume 20 will receive feedback from the editors, but for the seasonal contests, only the winning submissions will receive feedback from the judge.
  If you have already submitted your work to the Volume 20 category, then please do not send the same submission to the contest category.
  If you submit to the contest category first and your work is declined, then you may submit it to the Volume 21 category or future contests after this contest is finished.

Writer Qualifications

  High school students (aged 14-18) from anywhere in the world are eligible to submit.
  We do not accept submissions from any editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.
  Submit a maximum of three pieces.
  If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document may be withdrawn, and you will be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.
  We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.
  Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards

Length

  Poetry must be 80 lines or less.
  Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.

Formatting

  Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.
  We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.
  We prefer common conventions:                                        
    
      Color: Black & white
      Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles
      Font Type: Times or Times New Roman
      Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.
    
      

 
  

Using Submittable

  Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
  Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
  The first 200 submissions for this contest are free. Once the contest collects 200 submissions, there will be a $4 submission fee for additional submissions, but the contest category will remain open. For this reason, we recommend submitting early.

Prize
There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:

  Publication in Polyphony Lit Volume 21
  Eligibility for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards (if work is previously unpublished)
  Editorial feedback from the Contest Judge
  A full scholarship for Polyphony Lit’s "How to be a Literary Editor" course. Upon completion of the course, students will be eligible to join the editorial staff of Polyphony Lit!
  Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the Judge.​

Additional Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction​

  At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.
  We do not look for op-ed pieces, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays.
  We would advise reading some samples of our work, in order to understand the material that we publish. Here are some samples of creative nonfiction that we have published:
  Memories of the Boy I Didn't Know
  responses to love
  Holiday in a Burning City

High school students (aged 14-18) from anywhere in the world are eligible to submit.

Winter Contest 2026

日本語訳
In celebration of Asian & Pacific Heritage Month, Polyphony Lit is hosting a special contest for submitters with Japanese background. The theme for the contest is Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself: Channeling Empowerment Through Japanese Culture. For more details on the prize, see below!
In his 1994 Nobel Prize acceptance speech “Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself,” Oe Kenzaburo discusses the ambiguities, margins, and intersections that constituted the Japanese identity during the turbulent decade. “What kind of identity as a Japanese should I seek?” he asks in his speech. “As one with a peripheral, marginal, and off-center existence in the world, I would like to seek how—with what I hope is a modest, decent, and humanist contribution—I can be of some use in a cure and reconciliation of mankind.” This disillusionment with Japanese society in the 1990s, as well as a strong emphasis on democracy and stronger diplomatic relations throughout Asia, make their way into his work—a reflection of the blur between his identity as a Japanese writer and his vision of what could be possible.
For API Month 2026, we’re holding this bonus contest to ask you about your own ambiguities. What intersections between your identity and the world around you remain vague? What questions about your heritage remain unanswered? How does your cultural background reconcile tensions and challenges you encounter? Polyphony Lit wants to see you write about culture as empowerment, change, and growth. Explore the undefined and show us what you discover. As you write, we encourage you to explore not only your cultural background but your style of writing, as well: you may take inspiration from Oe with “grotesque realism” prose, or Haruki Murakami’s surrealist style, or Kimiko Hahn’s evocative verse. There are no limits to the creative expression we seek from you.
We will accept pieces written in English and Japanese. If your piece is written primarily in one of these languages, but also features brief words or phrases written in another language, then we will certainly consider multilingual pieces like this, but please keep in mind that our contest readers will only be able to provide English translations for Japanese. For multilingual words and phrases, you are welcome to provide English translations of your own as footnotes or as part of the context in the piece.
There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:
Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the judge.
At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.

Japanese Heritage Contest 2026 — Fiction

Japanese Heritage Contest 2026 — Nonfiction

Japanese Heritage Contest 2026 — Poetry

In celebration of Asian & Pacific Heritage Month, Polyphony Lit is hosting a special contest for submitters with Japanese background. The theme for the contest is "Borrowing." For more details on the prize, see below!
We live in an era where being API is an aestheticized identity to be borrowed, consumed, and discarded. With the rise of TikTok trends such as ‘Chinamaxxing’ — adopting Traditional Chinese Medicine wellness routines such as drinking hot water and eating congee — the threat and power of cultural commodification has never been so ubiquitous. A million views here, a million views there: it has become profitable for the Western gaze to confine Asian and Pacific Islander multiplicities, sometimes as blatantly as the one-dimensional Chester Ming in Hollywood blockbusters like The Wolf of Wall Street. Beneath this superficial adoption, however, a deeper, necessary borrowing serves as a touchstone of the Asian and Pacific Islander experience.
For this contest, we invite you to explore the economy of borrowing. What may we borrow from our own cultures — the inherited griefs, the peripheries of a homeland we may have never seen, the tidbits of language passed down like heirlooms? Conversely, what do we borrow from other cultures? The artistic process, after all, is fundamentally a rite of borrowing until something new arises from the potpourri of inspiration.
Take the poet Stephanie Chang, whose acclaimed poem “Lotus Flower Kingdom” in The Adroit Journal deftly weaves surrealistic inheritance and the bodily grotesque. Listen to the Cantonese rock band Beyond, whose luminous rock ballads borrow the revolutionary ardor of the South African anti-apartheid movement to mirror Hong Kong’s own mounting fears over the encroaching 1997 handover — “風雨中抱緊自由.” (Holding fast to freedom in the wind and rain)
Bask in the expansive world of Pacific Islander literature – like Epeli Hauʻofa’s foundational essay Our Sea of Islands or the fierce, documentary poetics of Craig Santos Perez, which radically reclaim the inheritances of Oceania from colonial narratives. Turn to the hit animated film KPop Demon Hunters, which borrows from the Korean experience to make spectacle of it. Perhaps you will consider the myriad of loanwords in the Malay language, ranging from motosikal from English and kueh from Chinese, which borrow from Malaysia’s rich multiethnic history.
What have you borrowed, what have you inherited, and what will you refuse to give back? The theme is entirely open to your interpretation – have fun with it!
There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:
Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the judge.
At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.

Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Contest 2026 — Fiction

Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Contest 2026 — Poetry

Please note that we will be closing each window for Volume 21 whenever we reach the submission cap. We recommend submitting early to ensure your work is considered. What does this mean?
There will be a limited number of submissions, so out of respect for other submitters:
Submissions for this category:

Poetry and Prose - Fiction

Poetry and Prose - Nonfiction

Poetry and Prose - Poetry

The theme for this contest is “Home.” For more details on the contest prize, see below.
We write to grasp a better idea of who we are. The things around us, the people we surround ourselves with, the places we live in. Writing is all about the individual in attempts to unveil our true selves and what shapes them. So, what is home to you?
We encourage you to take a moment to reflect and really think about what home means. Is it the place you live in? Your local community? A person, a feeling, or maybe even a pet? Maybe home is the ballet studio next door, or your old elementary school classroom. Take a walk outside and explore the different feelings that come around when you think of home. Consider what home truly means and why your home is your home.
This theme is open to your interpretation: be creative, and have fun with it!
Interested in learning how to write poetry with experienced writers and editors from around the the globe? Our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days is open for registrations on a rolling basis.
There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:

Contest - Fiction

Contest - Nonfiction

Contest - Poetry

June 1st - 30th 2026
The theme for this contest is “Happy Endings.” For more details on the contest prize, see below.
Queerness has always been entangled with tragedy, both in the real world and in literature. From the Hays Code of 1934 to the “bury your gays” trope, the LGBTQIA+ community is forced to fight an uphill battle to have positive representation in mainstream media. As they do in real life, queer people in fiction constantly struggle with overwhelming hardship and heartbreak. A “happily ever after” is almost unheard of in LGBTQIA+ stories.
The abundance of tragic queer narratives perpetuates the idea that queer people can never be truly happy. It is hard to turn away from our real-life issues only to see even more of them in our books. Awareness of these issues is important, but it is equally crucial that we recognize joy alongside sadness.
Let’s put down our books about queer suffering for a moment and celebrate our dreams. What do you hope for in the future? Some seek acceptance from their families. Others want to love freely without caring about societal pressures. Envision your own “happily ever after,” then put it into words. Writing about a better future is the first step to making it a reality.
Remember, the theme is open to your interpretation – be creative and have fun with it!
Looking for examples that Polyphony Lit has published already? Then check out "Just watching ducks with you" by Annette Lin and "i pray to angry goddesses" by Giya Agarwal.
Interested in honing your poetry-writing skills for the contest? Then try taking our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days. This workshop will help you to brainstorm, draft, and revise poems of your own! Interested in becoming an editor for Polyphony Lit? Take our editorial training course and join the staff!
There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:
At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.

Pride Month Contest — Fiction

Pride Month Contest — Nonfiction

Pride Month Contest — Poetry

Polyphony Lit is now open to submissions for a Voices Blog series centered around indigenous creators called "Piecing Together Indigenous Identity"
Indigenous identity is not a rigid monolith, but a vibrant mosaic. It is shaped by a variety of sources, whether that is a geographic affinity, a community tradition, or a fragment of a story passed down throughout generations. Historically, colonialism has acted as a force of disruption, scattering our traditions and fragmenting our histories. Yet, indigenous people hold the power to gather these scattered pieces and weave them back together. This blog series invites indigenous creators to reflect on the small moments, memories, and fragments of daily life that contribute to their understanding of native identity. Whether you are reflecting on traditional indigenous myths, history and geography, or your own personal experiences, we would love to hear from indigenous youth who are passionate about art as a medium for decolonization and cultural resistance.
This is an open call for poetry, fiction, CNF, nonfiction articles, and visual art. We are seeking work created by indigenous youth age 12-25.
Selected works will be featured in the blog series, which we plan to launch in 2027, if we receive enough submissions.
This submission opportunity is separate from Polyphony Lit's seasonal issues. Submissions for this category will be considered for blog publication and not for publication in our seasonal issues. Constructive critique will not be provided for submission to this blog series.
To read some works from our previous blog series, please check out "Love in the Time of Banned Books" and "Wake Up, the War Is Here."

Submissions are open only to indigenous youth aged 12-25.

Voices Blog: Piecing Together Indigenous Identity Series

Voices Blog: Piecing Together Indigenous Identity Series for 2027 - Poetry

Voices Blog: Piecing Together Indigenous Identity Series for 2027 - Multimedia

In celebration of Latin Heritage Month, Polyphony Lit is hosting a special contest for submitters with Latino/a/e background. The theme for this contest is “Repeating History.” For more details on the contest prize, see below.
In ancient Mesoamerica, time was not viewed as linear but instead as a cyclical pattern. Aztec mythology proposes that the current world as we know it is the fifth iteration, following three cycles of creation, death, and rebirth. Cyclical patterns are also a common theme in the literary world: in One Hundred Years of Solitude, for example, Gabriel García Márquez tells the story of a multigenerational family, where each new generation forges onward, believing they possess free will, only to make the same mistakes as their ancestors
With this in mind, we ask you to consider how history repeats itself, how history shapes you and the choices you make, and how we may be susceptible to falling into the same cyclical patterns of behavior or thought. Have fun with your writing, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Feel free to add your own unique interpretation or take on the prompt!
Interested in becoming an editor for Polyphony Lit? Take our editorial training course and join the staff!
Submissions will open on September 1st and will remain open until November 30th or until we reach our submission cap of 200 submissions.
Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit Volume 22.​ Submissions to Polyphony Lit Volume 22 will receive feedback from the editors, but for the seasonal contests, only the winning submissions will receive feedback from the judge.
If you have already submitted your work to the Volume 22 category, then please do not send the same submission to the contest category.
If you submit to the contest category first and your work is declined, then you may submit it to the Volume 22 category after the contest is finished.
High school students (age 14-18) who identify as Latinx or Native American are eligible to submit. For ease of reference, we roughly define this as writers of Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish origin (for example: Mexican or Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Colombian, etc), writers who identify as Central / South America Indigenous Peoples (for example: Amerindian, K’iche’, Yucatec, Miskitos, Quechua, Chibcha, etc), and writers who identify as North American Indigenous Peoples (Eg: Navajo nation, Blackfeet tribe, Native Village, Nome Eskimo Community, First Nations, etc). However, we understand that people of Latin American and Indigenous descent often come from many different backgrounds, so we hope that you will not be limited in any way by these categories.
We do not accept submissions from editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.
Works may be written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. If your piece is written primarily in one of these languages, but also features brief words or phrases written in another language, then we will certainly consider multilingual pieces like this, but please keep in mind that our contest readers will only be able to provide English translations for the languages listed above. For multilingual words and phrases, you are welcome to provide English translations of your own as footnotes or as part of the context in the piece.
We do not accept submissions from editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.
Submit a maximum of three pieces.
If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document will be withdrawn, and you will be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.
We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.
Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards.
Poetry must be 80 lines or less.
Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.
Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.
Submissions longer than one page should have the page number inserted at the top (right or left side) of every page, as it would help our Judge specify the location for their commentary.
We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.
We prefer common conventions:               
    
      Color: Black & white
      Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles
      Font Type: Times or Times New Roman
      Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.
Color: Black & white
Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles
Font Type: Times or Times New Roman
Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.
Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
Submissions for this contest are free.
There is a submission cap of 200 submissions, so we may close submissions for the contest before the deadline if we receive 200 submissions. We recommend submitting early, to ensure that you do not miss the deadline.
There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:
Publication in Polyphony Lit Volume 22
Eligibility for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards
Editorial feedback from the Contest Judge
A full scholarship for Polyphony Lit’s "How to be a Literary Editor" course. Upon completion of the course, students will be eligible to join the editorial staff of Polyphony Lit!
Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the Judge.
At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.
We do not look for op-ed pieces, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays.
We would advise reading some samples of our work, in order to understand the material that we publish. Here are some samples of creative nonfiction that we have published:
responses to love
Holiday in a Burning City

High school students (age 14-18) who identify as Latinx or Native American are eligible to submit. Submissions are not accepted from editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.

Latin Heritage Contest - Fiction

Latin Heritage Contest - Nonfiction

High school students (age 14-18) who identify as Latinx or Native American are eligible to submit. Editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit are not eligible to submit.

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