Debut Prize
Despite what Punxsutawney Phil has told us, the Touchstone staff is hoping for a quick turn to Spring and the new beginnings that come with it. We want to invite new writers to begin with us, and we have an opportunity for them to publicly share their works! Touchstone is accepting submissions for the Debut Prizes in Fiction and Nonfiction. There is no theme or prompt for Debut Prizes so that you can showcase your best work in these genres! This opportunity is for unpublished writers to submit and publish their work. The submission window will be open from February 14th to February 28th (a two-week window for submissions), and winners should be announced in early March.
Pop-Up Projects
The Pop-Ups for Poetry and Art now have submissions open on February 14th. Submissions will close on February 21st (a one-week window for submissions).
Poetry
We’ve heard that Cupid’s been up to his old antics, laying arrows into innocents and leaving them “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.” We’re seeking those afflicted with admiration—whether that be of a special someone or a special something, we want to hear from poets who have recently found pleasure, respect, or any other warm fuzzy feelings in a muse of their choosing.
Send Touchstone your best story or stories fulfilling the theme of Admiration and show us your creativity!
Art
Where do you come from? Who do you call family, community, home? How do these influences inform who you are? Heritage is what we inherit from those who came before us, but often the things we inherit move beyond material gains. Heritage is who we are and who we come home to, the culture that we live and the stories that we share in new places.
We are looking forward to experiencing your artworks that uniquely approach this theme of Heritage.
Submit
Submission portals can be found here, and all submissions must follow our General Guidelines listed below. Make sure to follow us on Twitter (or X if you prefer to call it that) to stay up to date on submissions, publications, and developments from Touchstone.
Touchstone accepts all submissions on our Submittable portal.
General Guidelines
Your work may be in any style, format, or subject, unless unless it's a themed submission. We simply want to see your best work. Surprise us. Move us. Expand our understanding of art & literature. Remind us what great art can do
Each new piece should start on a new page. The author's name and personal information should not appear on the submission itself
For prose & poetry: Please use easy-to-read, standard fonts such as Times New Roman and Garamond. 12 point font. Please include page numbers. Attach your file as a Word document on the submissions page. We only recommend PDF if the piece has special formatting
For art submissions: We will accept all mediums: painting, digital art, photography, experimental, sculpture, multimedia, etc. One art piece should appear on a single page with the following information at the bottom right: title, media, dimension, & date of completion.
Include a cover letter with your submission. Journals and contests frequently ask for a short cover letter along with the submission, so it’d be helpful to have a cover letter template ready and modify it slightly for all your submissions.
Don’t sweat the cover letter too much--it’s simply a short letter that gives us more context about you and your work before we review the submission. Please fill out the cover letter section on your submission with the following information:
For prose (fiction & nonfiction) submissions, please include the word count in the letter
Indicate if this is a simultaneous submission (meaning if the pieces are--or will soon be--under consideration with other magazines)
A 25-100 author bio in third person. It can be about anything. Commonly, the bio contains such things as pronouns, education/publication history, state of residence, current occupation (if applicable), hobbies/interests, etc
We accept simultaneous submissions. However, if your pieces are accepted elsewhere, please notify us through the “Messages“ tab in your submission on Submittable right away
If your work contains violence, sexual or mental abuse, sexual assault, etc., please put a content warning or trigger warning above that specific piece--we would just like a little warning. Abusive pieces written from an obviously positive perspective will be rejected.
AWARDS
DEBUT PRIZE IN FICTION, NONFICTION, OR POETRY (genre subject to editor discretion)
A cash prize of $50 for one story/essay/poem and an original broadside art designed by our artist will be awarded to a new writer making their grand debut! $30 prize for the runner up writer..
TOUCHSTONE UNDERGRADUATE CREATIVE WRITING AWARD
Touchstone Undergraduate Creative Writing Awards are an annual award series open to current undergraduate students at Kansas State University. In each of the following genres: poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction, two submissions are chosen by the editors at Touchstone. Winner in every genre receives a cash prize of $75, and the runner up receives $50.
PERMISSION TO PUBLISH
Submission to Touchstone implies permission to publish unless otherwise revoked by the writer during the submission stage. Writers retain all later publication rights. Touchstone accepts simultaneous submissions.