Philadelphia Stories is a free print magazine that strives to publish the finest fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art written by authors living in, or originally from, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or New Jersey. Philadelphia Stories seeks submissions from diverse perspectives: all ethnicities, races, abilities, and gender identification. We wish to demonstrate the vitality and vibrancy of the Philadelphia-area residents in every issue.
Please follow these guidelines for submitting material. *Please scroll to the bottom to select the genre or contest to which you would like to submit.
DEADLINES: Winter: December 17; Spring: December 15 (poetry contest issue) Summer: March 15; Fall: May 15 (fiction contest issue). PLEASE NOTE: You will be notified of the status of your submission within six months AFTER the issue deadline. If you have not heard from us within six months after your submission was sent, please feel free to contact trish@philadephiastories.org and we'll check the status for you. (Please note, our emails do sometimes get caught in spam filters.) Thanks for submitting to Philadelphia Stories!
In General
- Only work submitted through our Online Submission Form will be considered.
- We do not accept previously published work. This includes work published online, on personal blogs or websites.
- Any work received after the closing date for a particular issue will be considered for the next issue.
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Please let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- Please attach a SHORT bio (about 75 words, written in third person) including your connection to Pennsylvania, Delaware, or New Jersey.
- We will send notice by email regarding the acceptance or rejection of your material within six months after the issue's deadline.
Philadelphia Stories, Junior, a division of Philadelphia Stories, is a literary magazine published each Spring for writers age 18 and under who currently live in Pennsylvania, Delaware, or Southern New Jersey. Please follow these guidelines for submitting material. There is no reading fee. Deadline: February 1. We accept submissions year-round.
Don't have a Submittable account? No problem! You can email your work to our editors here: PSJR912@GMAIL.COM
General Guidelines
1. Philadelphia Stories, Jr. accepts work submitted to our online submission form or by email.
Emailed submissions will be accepted as either a Word .doc or .txt attachment.
2. On the first page, please include your name, school, grade, and information on how we can contact you.
3. Any work received after the closing date for a particular issue will be considered for the next issue.
4. Tell us about yourself and where you live. For example: George Smith is in sixth grade and likes to write poetry. He also likes basketball and lives with his cat and little sister in Cherry Hill, NJ. He has read all seven Harry Potters twice.
Philadelphia Stories, Jr. publishes:
1. Fiction (original short stories no longer than 5,000 words)
2. Poems
3. Essays
4. Art (original photos, drawings, pictures of sculptures, cartoons, etc.)
If you would prefer to email your submission, email to PSJR912@gmail.com.
Artwork
- All artwork must be submitted electronically.
- Please submit no more than five previously unpublished images for consideration. (You must submit each image file as a separate submission; you cannot attach multiple images to one submission.)
- Preliminary images do not need to be print resolution and may be attached as a JPEG or GIF. Final, approved artwork should be of professional quality, at least 300 dpi saved as a TIFF, PDF, JPEG or EPS.
- Do not send us links to your website. We'll leave it to you to find your best work.
- We accept short stories or novel excerpts in
varying lengths but not more than 5,000 words.
- We look for fiction written by Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and New Jersey writers (either currently residing in,
originally from, or lived here at some point) that features sharp
writing, carefully crafted plots, and, above all, compelling characters.
Novel excerpts should be able to stand alone as a complete work.
Poetry [updated]:
- We especially encourage poets from underrepresented or historically marginalized backgrounds or circumstances to submit work to Philadelphia Stories.
- Up to three poems may be submitted in one submission period; each poem is not to exceed 36 lines. Poems may be single spaced (unlike prose submissions which should be double spaced). Poems that exceed 36 lines/one page may not be considered.
- Submit each poem in its own single document/attachment. This will allow the submitter to WITHDRAW work that is accepted elsewhere as we DO expect some poets to make simultaneous submissions to multiple journals. Submitted documents that include multiple poems may not be considered.
- If your simultaneously submitted poem is accepted elsewhere, please WITHDRAW your poem as soon as possible. And congratulations!
- Your cover letter should include a bio of no more than 3 sentences/~50 words PLUS a brief sentence/statement indicating your connection to Philadelphia, PA, NJ, or DE. Feel free to copy and paste the same text in each submission. No need to reinvent the wheel. Upon acceptance, we will also ask for a photo and an updated bio.
- Please title your submission with the TITLE of the attached poem.