Salvation South Gold Star Program Gold Star

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

We care more about the quality of your story and your writing than its length. Submissions of any reasonable size are welcome. The essays we publish typically range from 1,000 to 10,000 words, and they average between 2,500 and 3,000.

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

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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 your 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.

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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.

Please make your pitch in 500 words or fewer via a written document that explains the story you propose, why you believe the story merits publication in Salvation South, and how you plan to approach your reporting on the story.

Please provide proof of your writing ability by including links to one or two previously published works, or, if the piece does not exist on the internet, you may attach one PDF files. This page allows you to include up to two links to samples and/or one attachment.

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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 by the photographer—typically 250 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.

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Salvation South presents the work of documentary filmmakers with a focus on Southern storytelling. If you have a short documentary that is set in the South, explores Southern identity and themes or addresses issues facing the South, please consider submitting your work to our magazine. Films must be 30 minutes or fewer to be considered for publication.

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Salvation South runs short narrative films that are set in the South or driven by Southern characters. If you have a short narrative film that meets these criteria, please consider submitting your work to our magazine. We consider both work in progress and finished work. Films must be 30 minutes or fewer to be considered for publication.

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Salvation South runs visual essays that explore Southern themes. Visual essays typically combine voiceover narration (read by the author) with a visual accompaniment (collages, photographs, animation, video, text, etc.). If you have a visual essay that meets these criteria please consider submitting your work to our magazine. Visual essays must be 30 minutes or fewer to be considered for publication. Please include a file-sharing link to your finished work (.mov or .mp4) as well as a copy of the narration text (.doc, .docx, Pages, PDF). Individual AI-generated images that help bring the narration to life and are used as pieces of the finished visual project are acceptable. But AI-generated complete videos based on the narration should not be submitted.

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