Submission Guidelines
Submission Guidelines
Oakwood is the literary and arts annual of South Dakota State University, publishing the work of writers and artists of the Northern Great Plains region. We define this region as those states that adjoin South Dakota (Wyoming, Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Montana). By “writers and artists of,” we mean people who (a) live in this region now, or (b) had a significant, long-term relationship with this region but currently live elsewhere. We publish writers and artists of the Northern Great Plains region at all levels of experience—from students at SDSU to authors with multiple books in print.
Our submissions period runs from early October through January 31st. Please send all submission materials to sdsu.oakwood@sdstate.edu and follow these guidelines for submission:
Submission limits: three poems or artworks, 3000 words for prose: fiction or nonfiction.
Literary attachments must be in .doc or .docx format and should be grouped into one attachment per email.
Visual art attachments must be in .jpeg or .jpg format and should be separate files.
We only accept submissions which haven’t been previously published (this includes anywhere on the internet), and we will accept simultaneous submissions, as long as you immediately email us if your work is selected elsewhere.
- In the title of your email, include these three: submission, genre (poetry, art, nonfiction, fiction), and author name (i.e. Submission, poetry, John Doe)
- Include a third person bio (up to 100 words), which includes your connection to the Northern Great Plains region.
- In addition to your bio, include a creative integrity statement which states that this is your original work. However, if your work draws extensively from other sources, creative work or AI; please disclose that and discuss your extensive imaginative changes.
If your submission doesn’t follow these guidelines, we will not consider the work for publication at this time.
Student editors of Oakwood cannot submit creative work to the issue they are editing, except for submissions to the Barr award which is selected blind prior to the class.
We ask for first North American serial rights which will revert to the author upon publication, and we pay in copies. We will have a public reading in the spring semester.
Thank you so much for sending your work to Oakwood and making this publication so vibrant!
