The Echo: Teen Art & Lit Mag Gold Star Program Gold Star

Before you submit, please scroll below and familiarize yourself with our guidelines.

We accept poetry, memoirs, short stories and flash fiction in any genre, critical essays, short scripts, art, and photography.

Do Not Submit:

• Fan fiction or other derivative works
• Anything that would earn a rating of R or Mature. Use your discretion. When in doubt, submit.
• Illegal confessions
• Erotica
• Unfinished pieces
• Previously published pieces (including self-published pieces)
• Anything over 5,000 words

These are hard sells:

• Romantic cliches
• Retellings
• Romeo and Juliet endings
• Characters who are nonchalant about terrible situations
• Anything Shakespeare

This issue we're really interested in: Bittersweet

• A balanced mix of "bitter" and "sweet"
• Heartbreak
• Tragedy
• "For want of a nail" situations (if one small thing had happened differently, so much suffering could've been avoided)
• Heartwarming apocalypses
• "We're alive, but at what cost?"/Pyrrhic victories
• Open endings
• Redemptions gone wrong
• Fall of Lucifer/Corruption arcs

Remember, if you're unsure about whether you're on theme or not, don't self-reject, submit anyway!

For Art/Photography: Digital art and photography is preferred. If submitting physical art, submit the highest quality scan/image of your artwork that you can. We are willing to work with artists to capture your work in magazine quality if your work is accepted.

That’s all! Thank you for your interest in submitting to us; we look forward to seeing your work!

With love,

The Echo

Not Open

Submit to our Murphy's law theme!

Before you submit, please scroll below and familiarize yourself with our guidelines.

We accept poetry, memoirs, short stories and flash fiction in any genre, critical essays, short scripts, art, and photography.

Do Not Submit:

• Fan fiction or other derivative works
• Anything that would earn a rating of R or Mature. Use your discretion. When in doubt, submit.
• Illegal confessions
• Erotica
• Unfinished pieces
• Previously published pieces (including self-published pieces)
• Anything over 5,000 words

These are hard sells:

• Book-Trapping Trope
• Pity Parties
• Rants
• "Bad Day" Stories

This issue we're really interested in:

• Snowball Effect
• Butterfly Effect
• Bad Luck (x100)
• Comedy > Tragedy
• Mentioning the Scottish Play
• Climax Crash
• Unexpected Disasters
• Beautiful Inconveniences
• Hilarious Mishaps
• Apocalypses

Remember, if you're unsure about whether you're on theme or not, don't self-reject, submit anyway!

For Art/Photography: Digital art and photography is preferred. If submitting physical art, submit the highest quality scan/image of your artwork that you can. We are willing to work with artists to capture your work in magazine quality if your work is accepted.

That’s all! Thank you for your interest in submitting to us; we look forward to seeing your work!

With love,

The Echo

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Our theme for this season is migration, which means we are on the hunt for works that explore the world and travel the heart. We want to walk through your most creative places, based on reality or embossed with symbols and items unique to your identity. Give us poems of desire, stories of loss, scripts of an uphill battle, and art of wondrous scenery or heartbreaking views. Show us what hopes and fears lie in your imagination!

We are currently looking for pieces that fall under the theme of "Migration":

Where are you from? Where have you gone, and where do you want to go?

Birds, butterflies, and other critters are moving away due to the seasons. Their journey and the things they see are special.

Over time, families move from one place to another. Maybe it's been recently, or maybe your grandparents tell stories of packing up and hopping on a train towards a better life. How has this affected your family traditions?

Whatever it may fall under, submit to us!

"Migration" can be...

- Complex perspectives

- Animal/human migration

- Invasive/endangered species

- Sci-fi

- Nonfiction/memoirs

- Own voices

- Graphic stories/comics

- Family history/story

- The Wild Robot-esque art, imagery, or tear-jerkers

- Unspoken/unseen problems

- Culture shock

In "Migration", we are NOT looking for:

- Hate crimes

- Idolization/simplification of the American Dream

- Vacation/vlog/travel writing

- Racism/xenophobia

- Really long TSA lines

- Jet lag/motion sickness/turbulence

Our "Hard sells" are:

- Terrorism

Do NOT send:

- Fanfiction or other derivative works

- AI-generated art or writing

- Illegal confessions

- Unfinished pieces

- Previously published pieces (including self-published pieces)

- Work that intends to harm or shame a group

- Novel length work

Triggering/Vulgar Language:

- If a trigger warning is needed to make sure it is clearly stated before the piece

- Censor slurs if needed (when in doubt submit with censors)

- If a piece is explicitly vulgar, submit with caution

Author Expectations:

- Your work will be considered for one or more of the following: being posted on our website, made into a podcast, or considered for annual print in our magazine.

Piece Limit Guidelines:

- If you wish to submit multiple pieces, you must submit them separately. Only one piece is allowed per submission, but you can submit as many times as you like.

- If your pieces are part of a collection, you still need to submit the pieces separately, but you may indicate they are part of a collection.

Thank you for your interest in submitting to us. If you're having trouble, please email us at [email protected] or check our Instagram and socials for more (@echolitmag).

Not Open

Phantasmagoria is a series of twisting, loosely connected ideas that are surreal, dynamic, wondrous or strange in concept.

Submit to us your best surrealist dream-like stories, poetry and visual art!

Not Open

Before submitting, look below and familiarize yourself with our guidelines.

We accept poetry, memoirs, short stories, flash fiction of any genre, critical essays, short scripts, art, and photography.

Do NOT Submit:

• Fanfiction or other derivative works
• Anything that would be rated R or Mature. Use your discretion. When in doubt, submit.
• Illegal confessions
• Erotica
• Unfinished pieces
• Previously published pieces (including self-published)
• Anything over 5,000 words

This issue, we're really interested in: Phantoms and Figments

• The supernatural
• Abstract art
• Mystery
• Spooky or scary
• Hauntings, metaphorical or literal
• Poltergeists
• Mild gore
• Werewolves and vampires
• Reddit-style horror stories

We are NOT looking for:

• Ghost smut
• Moderate to severe gore
• Rip-off scholastic reading ghost stories
• Five Nights at Freddy's-esque tales
• Fanfiction

Remember, if you're unsure about whether you're on theme or not, submit anyways!

For Art/Photography: Digital art and photography is preferred. If submitting physical art, submit the highest quality scan/image that you can. We are willing to work with artists to capture your piece(s) in magazine quality if accepted.

That's all! Thank you for your interest in submitting to us; we look forward to seeing your work!

With love,

The Echo

Not Open

What do I write for "Island"?

New themes don't have to be scary.... here are some places to start :p

What we DO want:

• Controversial Epstein Island comedy/serious/ interpretations/ horror (Make fun of the pedos not the victims)
• Fun beachy trip turned murder mystery
• Jaws type shark attack
• Ocean aliens
• Normal summer vacay + romance
• Beach wildlife art

What we DON'T want:

• No depressing metaphors
• No girl tanning on beach with no plot
• No nudity (beyond the bikini)

Do NOT send:

• Smut
• Fan fiction or other derivative works
• AI-generated works
• Anything that would earn a rating of R or Mature. Use your discretion. When in doubt, submit.
• Illegal confessions
• Erotica
• Unfinished pieces
• Previously published pieces (including self-published pieces)
• Anything over 5,000 words

Piece Limit Guidelines

• If you wish to submit multiple pieces, you must submit them separately. Only one piece is allowed per submission, but you can submit as many times as you like.
• If your pieces are part of a collection, you still need to submit the pieces separately, but you may indicate they are part of a collection

Important Art Notice

• Our page sizes are 6x9 inches for one page, and 12x9 for a full spread

Not Open

Before you submit, please scroll below and familiarize yourself with our guidelines.

We accept poetry, memoirs, short stories and flash fiction in any genre, critical essays, short scripts, art, and photography.

Do Not Submit:

• Fan fiction or other derivative works
• Anything that would earn a rating of R or Mature. Use your discretion. When in doubt, submit.
• Illegal confessions
• Erotica
• Unfinished pieces
• Previously published pieces (including self-published pieces)
• Anything over 5,000 words

These are hard sells:

• Disney stuff
• Robots/A.I stuff
• No polarizing modern topics
• Blatant retellings

This issue we're really interested in: Folklore and Fairytales

• Your favorite untold stories
• Alternate/Dark Endings
• Grimm-esque Fairytales
• Art
• Cottagecore Aesthetic
• LGBTQ+ Re-imaginings
• Nature-centered pieces
• Urban Legends
• Futuristic/Post Apocalyptic Re-imaginings
• Unreliable Narrators
• Aesops fables
• Modern Re-imaginings
• Nonfiction history of a fairytale

Remember, if you're unsure about whether you're on theme or not, don't self-reject, submit anyway!

For Art/Photography: Digital art and photography is preferred. If submitting physical art, submit the highest quality scan/image of your artwork that you can. We are willing to work with artists to capture your work in magazine quality if your work is accepted.

That’s all! Thank you for your interest in submitting to us; we look forward to seeing your work!

With love,

The Echo

Not Open