the bell tower

Purdue's only undergraduate literary magazine The Bell Tower is NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS.
 

The judges and editors at The Bell Tower are always looking forward to receiving the best student work available at Purdue. We accept fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, photography, studio art of almost every kind, and playwriting. All Purdue undergrads, regardless of major, are encouraged to submit. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at belltowersubmissions@gmail.com, or the SEA at purduesea@purdue.edu.

 

All submissions should be emailed as attachements to belltowersubmissions@gmail.com after the author/artist has read the guidelines for his/her category. Submission does not guarantee publication. All work must be previously unpublished.
 

Any author/artist must currently be an undergraduate at Purdue University. If a submission is not authored by someone who meets this criteria, the editors of The Bell Tower reserve the right to disqualify him/her from publication.

ALL SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2016 EDITION ARE DUE BY DECEMBER 11th, 2016 AT MIDNIGHT.

 

CATEGORY GUIDELINES:

 

• FICTION - Any short story or novel excerpt may be submitted. The Bell Tower cannot accept submissions greater than 6,000 words. Authors are limited to ONLY ONE (1) fiction submission. Submissions should be double spaced, in an easy-to-read font (serif fonts work best), and in .doc, .rtf, or .html format. Please check your work for typos and grammatical errors before submitting.

 

• POETRY - The Bell Tower will consider all poems less than 5 pages long. Poets may not submit more than THREE (3) poems. Please submit your poem in the exact format in which you intend it to be published. If your poem is chosen to be published, it will be printed exactly exactly as it was submitted. The editors of The Bell Tower will reserve the right to change the font unless otherwise specified. Again, submissions must be in .doc, .rtf, or .html format.

 

• PHOTOGRAPHY, PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, and OTHER PUBLISHABLE ART - Please submit only .jpg or .gif images of photographed/scanned work. Artists are limited to only FIVE (5) files, regardless of medium. Photographs of drawings, paintings, sculptues, and other work are accepted into this category, as well as photographs intended to be presented as the work of a photographer. All images, regardless of medium, will count toward to the artist's total of FIVE (5) submissions in this category. If images feature watermarks, signatures, or any other self-identifying mark, the editors cannot accept them due to anonymity issues. You will be disqualified if these marks are not removed. The Bell Tower will feature the winning image as its front cover, and all accepted artists are welcome to re-insert their watermarks/signatures upon publication. Please title each image and include it in the file name. Please include the a description of the intended medium in the body of the email, as well. (e.g.,photography, watercolor, mixed media, etc.)

 

• CREATIVE NONFICTION / MEMOIR - Similar to the FICTION category guidelines, submissions are limited to 6,000 words or less. Authors are limited to ONLY ONE (1) submission, and it must be in .doc, .rtf, or .html format. Submissions should be double  spaced and in an easy-to-read font (serif fonts work best). All work should be checked for typos and grammatical errors, as The Bell Tower cannot make any changes to submissions.

 

• PLAYWRITING - Authors are limited to ONLY ONE (1) submission of ONE (1) ACT in .doc, .rtf, or .html format. Only one play will be published in The Bell Tower. This play will be considered the winner of its category.

 

OTHER GENERAL GUIDELINES:

 

The Bell Tower welcomes submissions to multiple categories. However, if you submit too many into the same category, the excess submissions will be disqualified. For example, if you submit 2 short stories and 6 photographs, the editors will only consider your first short story and first 5 photographs. Also, for organizational purposes on the behalf of the submissions manager, please include your first and last name in the body of your email. This will not be used to identify your work in any way until after the judging process is over, when we will send out notices of acceptance or rejection.

 

Again, the editors of The Bell Tower are always looking forward to receiving the best work Purdue's undergraduates have to offer. This is a unique chance for students to get published, as well as to contribute to the artistic community on campus. Please do not hesitate to contact belltowersubmissions@gmail.com with any questions you might have concerning submissions or the judging process. Purdue's Student English Association is proud to be responsible for this publication, and we welcome any feedback or general inquires from anyone in association with Purdue.