Email: beacons@goodwin.edu
Beacons highlights the literary and artistic expression of the Goodwin University community and is committed to showcasing original works, both written and visual, by our students, alumni, faculty and staff. It aims to foster a culture of creativity, intellectual engagement and mutual appreciation.
As creative expression is essential to both academic and personal growth, we encourage submissions from any discipline or role within the Goodwin community, regardless of experience with this process. We welcome a variety of genres: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, lyrics and digital files of visual art (a professional photograph of the image is sufficient).
Submissions are not on a rolling basis. This means that we have a set time frame in which we accept and review submissions. You will hear back with an acceptance letter or a pass (with ideas how to prepare the work for resubmission, if desired) within three months after the submission deadline. Submissions are reviewed anonymously and are voted on by an impartial panel.
After a piece is accepted, you will be sent the contributor agreement to sign. You will also be informed if any edits are requested. If so, one of our editors will be in touch with you to discuss the process and timeline.
Thank you for considering sharing your creativity with the Goodwin community!
Prose (fiction/nonfiction): max 5,000 words
Poetry: max 3 poems
Lyrics: max 1 song
Submit as .doc or .docx
For nondigital work, please include a high-quality photo or scan
Include a brief analysis of the piece. (What was your inspiration? What does the piece mean to you?)
Submit as .jpg, .jpeg, or .pdf
Make your work as polished as possible. While we are not sticklers for perfect punctuation, we do expect that pieces will have been proofread and edited several times prior to submission. If you are submitting a visual piece, this means the image is cropped, clear, and edited as you deem fit.
Ensure your submission meets the requirements, such as genre, word limit, and file type.
Use your own words! While grammar editors can be helpful, they can detract from your unique writing voice. We would rather read your true writing with some errors than a story that has been regurgitated by Grammarly. (This also means we do not accept AI-generated images.)
If your piece, text or visual, is accepted, you may be asked to do some editing. Requesting edits is not an indication that your work is bad. Rather, it is meant to help you strengthen a piece that already has potential for publication!
Text submission: Editors might make line-level adjustments to the piece to promote clarity (i.e. “It was hot outside, I went indoors” could be changed to “It was hot outside, so I went indoors.”)