The award-winning literary magazine of The Ohio State University

The award-winning literary magazine of The Ohio State University, The Journal is published four times yearly and supported by the Department of English, private contributions, advertisements, and sales. The magazine is endorsed by The Ohio State University, and its contents determined solely by the editorial staff.

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Identifies publications that put forward outstanding online work for this respected digital anthology established in 2006.

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The Journal

Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize

Based in Columbus, Ohio, The Journal is committed to celebrating the incredible work of Ohio writers and artists. From Toni Morrison to Hanif Abdurraqib, Ohio has long been home to some of the most groundbreaking American writers. The Journal is proud to exist within such a vibrant literary community, past and present, and it is our mission to help give a platform to the voices shaping Ohio's future. 
   While general submissions open during the Winter and Spring, we welcome submissions from Ohio-based writers and artists year round! In an effort to increase access and opportunities for Ohioans, we are committed to publishing local writers and artists in every issue. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your work with us, and building community together.
 
In the title of your submission, please indicate what genre you are submitting.

Ohio Writers & Artists

Manuscripts may be no fewer than 150 and no more than 350 typed double-spaced pages, 12-point font. 

Submit an unpublished manuscript of short stories or essays; two or more novellas or novella-length essays; a combination of one or more novellas/novella-length essays and short stories/essays; a combination of stories and essays. Novellas or novella-length nonfiction are only accepted as part of a larger work.

Non/Fiction Collection Prize

Manuscripts may be no fewer than 150 and no more than 350 typed double-spaced pages, 12-point font. 

We’re interested in visual art of all media. We are looking for a cohesive suite of work that demonstrates a clear point of view. Please send 6 – 10 pieces of art in high-quality PDF and include a short, third-person bio with your submission.
Title your submission with the title you want for the whole body of work. One option is to title it "Selections From..." and include the name of your series. You may include an artist statement, but it is not required.
We do not consider works created with Artificial Intelligence.
You can visit our online archives to preview the type of work we've accepted in the past.
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but we ask that you notify us of this at the time of submission and withdraw your submission immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.
 We are NOT looking for visual poetry at this time - please direct your poetry submissions to the poetry section.
 We do our best to offer you a response within six months of your submission. If you have not heard from us by that time window, please feel free to send us a check-in email at: art@thejournalmag.org.

Art and Graphic Submissions

We are looking for fresh, surprising work with technique and technical control. We want poems with heart (emotional clarity and complication) and brains (theoretical engagement, well-developed logic and metaphor, mastery of syntax and diction). We are committed to publishing underrepresented voices and appreciate work in which the author has a stake: poems that feel both true and necessary. We appreciate the strange, the dynamic and enticing—poems that challenge, move, and conjure. Put simply, poems that we would be happy to read over and over again, poems in which we could appreciate new meanings, details, and connections each time. We love both traditional poetic forms and experimental, hybrid, genre-pushing poetics.

 

Please limit poetry submissions to 3 poems grouped in a single .doc or .pdf document—with 12 pt, Garamond font.

Poetry

We welcome literary fiction submissions of all forms, including those that incorporate experimental or genre elements. Our editors love to be surprised. We’re excited by weird, innovative formal choices and images that work to create something strange and beautiful. We’re looking for fiction that conveys emotion without falling into melodrama; that knows the difference between volume and truth. Stories that speak to the reader like they’re an old and trusted friend. We’re enamored by feminist and weird girl horror, the gothic, literary fiction, dark academia, environmental writing, and writing that invokes intersectionality in new and exciting ways. Though we generally do not publish straight genre fiction, we are always excited to read speculative work and frequently publish non-realist fiction. We strive to publish marginalized voices, including but not limited to people of color, LGBTIA+ and the gender non-conforming, and those with disabilities.

 

All fiction submissions should be double-spaced, Garamond. We are happy to consider self-contained excerpts of novels and long stories, but please note that historically it is unusual for us to publish submissions longer than 8,000 words. If you are submitting flash fiction, you are welcome to submit up to three 1000-word stories in a single .doc or .pdf document.

Fiction

All nonfiction submissions should be double-spaced, Garamond. We’re looking for craft-driven, honest nonfiction that interweaves personal, human narrative with a broader sense of global consciousness. We’re drawn to the sharp, the real, and the uncompromising. We are especially interested in writing that pushes the boundaries of what nonfiction can do. We publish across styles and forms, including lyric essays, experimental work, hybrid forms, personal essays, new journalism, photo essays, and non-academic cultural criticism.


Please note that we do not publish academic writing or straight reportage, and we generally don’t publish work over 8,000 words. If you are submitting flash nonfiction, you are welcome to submit up to three 1000-word stories in a single .doc or .pdf document.

Creative Nonfiction

Each year, The Journal selects one full-length manuscript of poetry for publication by Mad Creek Books, an imprint of The Ohio State University Press. In addition to publication under a standard book contract, the winning author receives the Charles B. Wheeler prize of $2500.
Entries of at least 48 typed pages of original poetry must be electronically submitted BY OCTOBER 12. Please note: Your name or other identification should appear only on a separate cover letter in the Submittable form. No identifying information should be included on the manuscript.  All manuscripts will be read anonymously. Manuscripts must be previously unpublished. Some or all of the poems in the collection may have appeared in periodicals, chapbooks, or anthologies, but these must be identified in the acknowledgments page. A nonrefundable handling fee of $23.00 (or $11.50 for BIPOC poets) will be charged for each entry. All entrants receive the latest print issue ofThe Journal.  If it is a hardship to meet the submission fee, please contact our editor to discuss options for a fee waiver at thejournal@osu.edu and thejournalprize@osu.edu (please have the word "wheeler" in the subject line).
The winning entry, screened by the editorial staff of The Journal and chosen by guest judge Weston Morrow, will be announced the following February.

The Journal

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Wheeler Poetry Prize

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