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Salvation South (Gold Star Program) Gold Star

Salvation South accepts stories, in all mediums, that reckon with the history and celebrate the culture of the American South. We invite journalists, essayists, poets, fiction writers, photographers, and filmmakers to tell their stories on our platform. Sending simultaneous separate submissions is fine, but please do not submit pieces that have been published elsewhere.

For poets, we ask that you submit at least three and no more than five poems in every submission.

We do our best to respond to all submissions within three months. Your patience is appreciated. Our crew is small. You will hear back from our editor-in-chief, Chuck Reece, or our poetry editor, Andy Fogle.

In each of our submissions calls, you will see a "Tip Jar" option. While we do not charge a submission fee, we do appreciate tips, because the income helps us keep Salvation South alive.

Quick Links to Open Calls:

Essays Free Tip Jar Option

Open

Salvation South publishes personal essays that would appeal to an audience of people living in, or with roots in, the American South.

We have published essays and creative non-fiction pieces from 300 words up to several thousand. We care more about the quality of your story and your writing than its length. Submissions of any reasonable size are welcome.

Fiction Free Tip Jar Option

Open

Salvation South frequently publishes fictional short stories provided they are set in the American South or driven by Southern characters.

Journalism Free Tip Jar Option

Open

Salvation South frequently publishes journalism. Our stories typically take one of the following forms:

  • Reported feature pieces about issues of concern facing the American South
  • Reported profiles of figures from the American South, ranging from people who are widely known figures to people who are not famous but whose work and/or life should be celebrated
  • In-depth interviews with notable Southern figures, structured with an introduction of 500 to 1,000 words, followed by an edited Q&A

There is no required word count for journalism. Our sweet spot seems to be within the range of 1,500 to 4,000 words, but if a story needs more room to unfold, that's fine by us.

To pitch us a story, please attach a document that explains what kind of story you are proposing, why you believe the story merits publication in Salvation South, how you plan to approach your reporting on the story, and proof of your ability to do the work.

Please make your pitch in 500 words or fewer via a written document. Please provide proof of your writing ability by sending us links to previously published works, or, if the piece does not exist on the internet, you may attach PDF files.

Photography Free Tip Jar Option

Open

Salvation South publishes the work of documentary photographers—ideally combinations of photographs and words that tell stories about the American South.

We present documentary photo projects with a written introduction to the project—typically 500 to 750 words—followed by a series of at least a dozen photographs. We can give individual photos and/or groupings of photos captions that could range in length from a single sentence to a paragraph.

To submit a documentary photography project, please submit a sample of at least ten images, as well as a written (in docx or PDF format) first draft of your introduction.

Poetry Free Tip Jar Option

Open

Salvation South runs individual poems or collections of 2-5 poems. We strongly prefer poets submit 3-5 poems at a time, in a single document. This gives us a broader idea of poets' style and subject matter, whereas a single poem offers us a more restricted view of your work.

One other note: unusual formats can sometimes be problematic. We are aesthetically open to indents, the use of white space, justified margins, or other unconventional uses of the page, but we can't necessarily recreate such moves in a way that appears exactly as intended on the various devices our readers use. This is NOT to say only submit left-justified poetry; in fact, we have published quite a bit that departs from that convention. We are just informing you that sometimes, for purely technological/layout reasons, we can't accept a poem, even if we love it. We appreciate your understanding.

Video/film: short docs Free Tip Jar Option

Open

Salvation South runs short documentary films (up to thirty minutes) that are set in the South or address issues facing the South.

Video/film: short narratives Free Tip Jar Option

Open

Salvation South runs short narrative films that are either set in the South or driven by Southern characters. We will consider finished or in-progress works of 30 minutes or shorter.