Photo courtesy of Ramapo College
Ramapo’s literary magazine, Trillium, is still accepting submissions for this year’s edition. From poetry to short stories and graphic design, the student editors at Trillium are eager to publish all genres of writing and forms of art.
A prize of $100 will be awarded to the best prose, poetry and art submissions. The previously approaching deadline for submissions was Feb. 13, but it will be extended to the following week.
To submit a piece or gain more information, students should visit the Trillium Magazine's submission website. For reference, copies of last year’s Trillium are available in the B-wing lounge and near the Center for Reading and Writing. All issues from the past ten years have been uploaded to the Trillium Publication Archive linked to Ramapo's official website.
Since the early 1970s, Trillium has been written, designed and published by Ramapo students. Trillium is an exceptionally unique publication because of how the magazine extends far beyond the structure of a “literary” magazine, as it juxtaposes graphics and photographs among stories and poems. The end product is an aesthetically pleasing and cohesive magazine that represents Ramapo’s creativity.
Unlike personal blogs, a literary magazine like Trillium has attained accredited platform dedicated to showcasing the best quality work of Ramapo’s student community. “It’s a place where students who are passionate about creative writing can become published for the first time,” explained Rachel Marsanico. Publishing through Trillium also exposes a student’s work to a much larger audience.
When reviewing the submissions, editors are searching for developed plot points and visually pleasing aesthetics. Editors ask that students proofread through their submissions multiple times, because clear direction and grammatical flow are essential for publication.
Editors also encourage students to be true to themselves while creating and writing. Literature major Haley Gorda said, “Don’t worry about creating something that everyone will love. You can’t please everyone, but you can submit something you are personally proud of.”
Student editor Paul Brennan suggests, “Students should write for themselves first, and the magazine second. Being published should be seen as a means rather than an end.”
Trillium follows a policy of blind submissions, so authors’ names should not appear anywhere on their submission pieces. Students can submit up to five poems, five works of prose, or five digital images. Prose submissions should not be longer than ten pages and digital art needs to be at least 300 dpi.
There isn’t subject material or content that is off limits for Trillium. Trillium’s faculty advisor Professor Sheehy explained, “My experience with editors in this class, is people like something that’s edgy. If there’s a problem related to edginess, it’s that we don’t get anything that’s edgy.”
In response to subject matter, student editor Jason Steur said, “It could be something that’s topical, that addresses concerns students might have because when other students pick up Trillium I want them to feel like they have a connection, even if they don’t know the author, just by the work they could say ‘wow this is speaking to me.”
kbognard@ramapo.edu
