The Queer Issue Is Now: LGBTQ+ Anthology 2025

Dec 1st - Jan 31st 2025

 The Queer Issue Is Now is a creative anthology of young LGBTQ+ writers and is a part of the It Gets Better Changemakers grant. For more details on the anthology, see below. 

We invite queer youth to submit fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction to this special issue of Polyphony Lit, centered on featuring LGBTQ writing. Selected pieces will appear in a collection distributed to 75 schools nationwide, offering students a set of voices that affirm the necessity and existence of queer futures.

The theme for this contest is “All The Stars Look Very Different Today," which is---of course---a nod to David Bowie's "Space Oddity." Bowie's legacy as an icon in queer spaces was always about his continued drive to reinvent and to break the boundaries of performance. We hope that you, too, will break the boundaries of creativity in the work you submit.

For this theme, you may consider the many ways queer and trans people have experienced this shift across time, especially moments when the accepted picture of the world no longer matched lived reality. Whether you draw inspiration from the lives of queer figures like Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, and Frida Kahlo, or from broader historical moments such as protests or dehumanizing laws, find a voice that's distinctly your own. Whatever direction you take, connect it to the lyric's core idea: that there is a "before" and an "after," and queer people are almost always writing from inside that moment of transition, naming the difference plainly. 

Looking for examples that Polyphony Lit has published already? Then check out "Just watching ducks with you" by Annette Lin and "i pray to angry goddesses" by Giya Agarwal.

Interested in honing your poetry-writing skills for the contest? Then try taking our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days. This workshop will help you to brainstorm, draft, and revise poems of your own! Interested in becoming an editor for Polyphony Lit? Take our editorial training course and join the staff!

Contest Guidelines

• Submissions will open on December 1st and will remain open until January 31st or until we reach our submission cap of 130 submissions.
• There is no fee to submit.
• Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit Volume 21.​
• If you have already submitted your work to the Volume 20 category, then please do not send the same submission to the seasonal contest category.
• If you submit to the seasonal contest category first and your work is declined, then you may submit it to the Volume 21 category after the seasonal contest is finished.

Writer Qualifications

• High school students who identify as LGBTQIA+ are eligible to submit. We understand that the LGBTQIA+ community covers a wide spectrum of identities, so we hope that you will not be limited by this term in any way. If you do not fall under these demographics, you are still welcome to submit to our upcoming seasonal contests.
• We do not accept submissions from any editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.
• Submit a maximum of three pieces.
• If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document may be withdrawn, and you may be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.
• We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.
• Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards

Length

• Poetry must be 80 lines or less.
• Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.

Formatting​

• Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.
• Submissions longer than one page should have the page number inserted at the top (right or left side) of every page, as it would help our Judge specify the location for their commentary.
• We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.
• We prefer common conventions:                                                            
  • Color: Black & white
  • Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles
  • Font Type: Times or Times New Roman
  • Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space. 

      

Using Submittable

• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
• Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
• Submissions for this contest are free.
• There is a submission cap of 130 submissions, so we may close submissions for the contest before the deadline if we receive 130 submissions. We recommend submitting early, to ensure that you do not miss the deadline.

Additional Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction

At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.

• We do not look for op-ed pieces, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays.
• We would advise reading some samples of our work, in order to understand the material that we publish. Here are some samples of creative nonfiction that we have published:
• Memories of the Boy I Didn't Know
• responses to love
• Holiday in a Burning City

Art Guidelines

Artist Qualifications​

• High school students who identify as LGBTQIA+ are eligible to submit. We understand that the LGBTQIA+ community covers a wide spectrum of identities, so we hope that you will not be limited by this term in any way. If you do not fall under these demographics, you are still welcome to submit to our upcoming seasonal contests.
• For the art category, we welcome multiple submissions.

Artwork Guidelines​​

• Submitted artwork will be considered for any of the following categories: (1) Cover Art (which will appear as the cover of the issue both on the website and in print), (2) Interior Art (which will appear within the pages of the issue both on the website and in print), and (3) Promotional Art (which may appear on social media or on our website to promote the issue).
• Images must be a .PNG or .JPG file.
• Images must be at least 2700 x 1800 pixels. Images with low resolution will not be eligible for cover art.
• Images must have a resolution of at least 300 DPI (dots per inch).
• Portrait orientation (6 x 9 inches or equivalent dimensions) is preferred.
• Polyphony means “many voices,” which you can use as inspiration for your design. You are not limited to that theme, as we are looking for the creativity and imagination of your visual art to be a match for the wide-ranging literary works contained in our annual volume.
• We accept simultaneous submissions but if the piece is accepted elsewhere, please notify us immediately. Only previously unpublished artwork is eligible.
• All submissions must be original and may include drawings, paintings, collages, photographs, or mixed media.

Using Submittable​

• In the submission form, please select "Cover Art" as the genre for your submission.
• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
• Upload only one piece per submission file. To submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
• There is no fee to submit.
• We do not provide feedback on cover art submissions. If your piece is accepted for publication, we will notify you at the close of our submission cycle.
• If you are submitting visual art, you give us permission to publish your work as cover art, t-shirt art, or promotional art on Polyphony Lit's platforms as outlined by Polyphony Lit's Copyright Policies.

Poetry on Demand Team Applications

This is an open call for volunteer poets to join our poetry-writing team for the Poetry-on-Demand Valentines Day fundraiser, which will be open for poetry commission between January 25 and February 7.

Our Poetry-on-Demand Team, comprised of teen poets from around the world, is eager to turn their creative talents into impact! The team writes street style poetry: spontaneous, short, minimally edited, and pleasing for Polyphony Lit patrons.

Each year we have three poem seasons: Summer Pop-Up (mid-June to mid-August), Holiday Pop-Up (late November to early-December) and Valentines Day Pop-Up (late January to early February).

We are looking for volunteer poets age 14-18 who want to join our team and write poems in response to prompts from our patrons, and students who are willing to help spread the word about the fundraiser to family, friends, and teachers. If you love improv and freewriting, or challenging yourself with new writing prompts, then you might be a good fit for our team!

If we are able to collect over 30 poetry commissions between January 25 and February 7, then your work may be published in Polyphony Lit's Poetry-on-Demand chapbook. Our Summer 2025 chapbook was a huge success and we love showcasing our team's work, so we hope you might help us to reach our 30-poem goal!

For more information on the Poetry-on-Demand team and events, please visit our website.

The deadline to apply is January 15th, 2026.

We look forward to reviewing your application!

Voices Blog: Palestine Series for 2026

November 6th 2025-January 31st 2026

Polyphony Lit is seeking submissions for a Voices Blog series on the current conflict and humanitarian crisis in Palestine. In this series, we're seeking out stories buried under the rubble and we seek to amplify the voices of Palestinian writers during a time of strife and uncertainty.  

This is an open call for poetry, fiction, CNF, and nonfiction articles. We are primarily seeking work written by Palestinian creators aged 12-25 (this could include writers currently living in Palestine, writers who are refugees due to the recent conflict, or writers of Palestinian descent from around the world who are looking for a platform to express their views on the recent conflict). However, if you believe that you have a valuable perspective to share on the humanitarian crisis in Palestine, we are open to multiple perspectives.

Please keep in mind that through this series, we intend to examine current events through a humanitarian lens, with a focus on how the conflict affects the lives of civilians.

Selected works will be featured in the blog series, which will launch in 2026, if we receive enough submissions.

This submission opportunity is separate from Polyphony Lit's seasonal issues. Submissions for this category will be considered for blog publication and not for publication in our seasonal issues. Constructive critique will not be provided for submission to this blog series.

To read some works from our previous blog series, please check out "Love in the Time of Banned Books" and "Wake Up, the War Is Here."

Palestine Blog Series Submission Guidelines

• Submissions will open on November 6th 2025 and will remain open until January 31st 2026 or until we reach our submission cap of 200 submissions.
• Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit's Volume 20 and Polyphony Lit's seasonal contests.​ Constructive critique will not be provided for submission to this blog series.

Writer Qualifications​

•  We are primarily seeking work written by Palestinian creators aged 12-25 (this could include writers currently living in Palestine, writers who are refugees due to the recent conflict, or writers of Palestinian descent from around the world who are looking for a platform to express their views on the recent conflict). However, if you believe that you have a valuable perspective to share on the humanitarian crisis in Palestine, we are open to multiple perspectives. Please keep in mind that through this series, we intend to examine current events through a humanitarian lens, with a focus on how the conflict affects the lives of civilians.
• We will primarily consider works written in English. However, if you would like to submit a piece written in Arabic or another language, then please email julian@polyphonylit.org to inquire if any our editors would be open to provide translations in another language.
• Submit a maximum of three pieces.
• If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document may be withdrawn, and you may be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.
• We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.
• Submissions for the blog series are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards.

Length

• Poetry must be 80 lines or less.
• Prose must be 1,800 words or less.

Formatting

• Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.
• Submissions longer than one page should have the page number inserted at the top (right or left side) of every page, as it would help our Judge specify the location for their commentary.
• We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.
• We prefer common conventions:               
  • Color: Black & white
  • Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles
  • Font Type: Times or Times New Roman
  • Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.

Using Submittable

• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
• Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
• Submissions are free.
• There is a submission cap of 200 submissions, so we may close submissions for the contest before the deadline if we receive 200 submissions. We recommend submitting early, to ensure that you do not miss the deadline.

Black History Contest 2026

January 1st - March 31st 2026

In celebration of Black History Month, Polyphony Lit is honored to host a special contest for  submitters with Black, African, and African American backgrounds. The theme for the contest  is “Through the Melanin Lens: Exploring the Black Gaze Through the Chromatics of Culture.”  For more details on the contest prize, see below: 

Black History Month recognizes the moments captured and forgotten that celebrate the vital  contributions made by Black people in American history and culture. When written history falls  short of expressing the Black experience, it is important to look at visual memories, both past  and present.  

Sight has been the gateway to human experience for centuries. In an era of innovation,  technology has further advanced the ways sight has affected people around the world. We witnessed Nelson Mandela win the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize and become South Africa’s first  Black President in 1994; we saw Barack Obama’s historic inauguration as the first African  American President of the United States in 2009; and we stood witness to the tragedy of George  Floyd in 2020. Yet while these are the stories the world knows, they are not the only stories of  struggle and triumph that Black people have seen and faced. 

What does it mean to look at your life through the melanin lens? You may write a creative  nonfiction piece that explores the darkness that you see when you close your eyes. You may craft  a fiction piece that is centered around news media and the influence that may be gained by sight. You may pen a poem that uncovers the effects of historical visions on your own culture. The  choice is yours! 

We remind you that there are no limits to the creativity that encompasses Black History Month. Take chances, be bold, and own your work. This is your chance to show the world how sight has  shaped your perspective!

Interested in honing your poetry-writing skills for the contest? Then try taking our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days. This workshop will help you to brainstorm, draft, and revise poems of your own!​

Interested in becoming an editor for Polyphony Lit? Take our editorial training course and join the staff!   

Black History Contest Guidelines

• Submissions will open on January 1st and will remain open until March 31st or until we reach our submission cap of 200 submissions.
• Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit Volume 20.​ Submissions to Polyphony Lit Volume 20 will receive feedback from the editors, but for the seasonal contests, only the winning submissions will receive feedback from the judge.
• If you have already submitted your work to the Volume 20 category, then please do not send the same submission to the contest category.
• If you submit to the contest category first and your work is declined, then you may submit it to the Volume 21 category after the contest is finished.

Writer Qualifications​

• High school students aged 14-18 who identify as Black / African American / African / Afro-Latinx are eligible to submit. For ease of reference, we roughly define this as writers of Black or African origin (Eg: African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somalian, etc). However, we understand that people of African descent are incredibly diverse and often come from many different backgrounds, so we hope that you will not be limited in any way by these categories. In the interest of reaching a diverse array of demographics, we are also open to submissions from writers who may identify as Middle Eastern / North African. For the purpose of this contest, we simply use the term “African” in a geographic sense. If you do not fall under these demographics, but are still interested in writing about the theme, then feel free to submit to our Winter Contest submission category!
• We do not accept submissions from editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.
• Submit a maximum of three pieces.
• If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document will be withdrawn, and you will be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.
• We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.
• Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards.

Length

• Poetry must be 80 lines or less.
• Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.

Formatting

• Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.
• Submissions longer than one page should have the page number inserted at the top (right or left side) of every page, as it would help our Judge specify the location for their commentary.
• We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.
• We prefer common conventions:               
  • Color: Black & white
  • Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles
  • Font Type: Times or Times New Roman
  • Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.   

   

Using Submittable

• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
• Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
• Submissions for this contest are free.
• There is a submission cap of 200 submissions, so we may close submissions for the contest before the deadline if we receive 200 submissions. We recommend submitting early, to ensure that you do not miss the deadline.

Prize

There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:

• Publication in Polyphony Lit Volume 21
• Eligibility for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards
• Editorial feedback from the Contest Judge
• Social media posts announcing the winners
• A full scholarship for Polyphony Lit’s "How to be a Literary Editor" course. Upon completion of the course, students will be eligible to join the editorial staff of Polyphony Lit!
• Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the Judge.

Additional Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction​

• At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.
• We do not look for op-ed pieces, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays.
• We would advise reading some samples of our work, in order to understand the material that we publish. Here are some samples of creative nonfiction that we have published:
• Memories of the Boy I Didn't Know
• responses to love
• Holiday in a Burning City

Polyphony Lit Winter Contest 2026:

Subversion

The theme for this contest is “Subversion.” For more details on the contest prize, see below.While the arrival of the holiday season comes adorned with classic traditions and cheer, this prompt invites you to think about the unorthodox. Proffer your own twist on common motifs and symbolism, toy with structure, invert tropes and expectations—there is no right or wrong interpretation of the prompt. All that is asked for is your own unique foray into the easy assumptions we lapse into when approaching stories, people, and just about everything else.

As normalcy is a malleable concept, subversion is as well. A non-exhaustive list, color symbolism; stereotypes; a poem’s rhyme and meter; behavioral norms; and literary tropes and genres may all well be subjects of consideration. Think of the color red traditionally denoting violence. Think of what is associated with a story when it is categorized as romance, or horror, or fantasy. Think of your lived experiences, through both the lenses of what others have come to expect of you, as well as what you have come to consider as normal behaviors and values.

Take a caged bird, for instance. It's the quintessential model of restriction and stagnation. Then, let's consider the circumstances. Say that the cage is its safest option when confronted with a predator. Does it, then, still impart a message of unilateral confinement? Arguably not. Although even the thematic ideals of the caged bird change—from freedom and its absence, to the requirements of survival—the bird is still, by dictionary definition, trapped. So, before the chiming of the bells heralds the arrival of a pristine new year, may we pause to consider the mechanisms behind our expectations and work to subvert them.

Interested in learning how to write poetry with experienced writers and editors from around the the globe? Our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days is open for registrations on a rolling basis.

Winter Contest Guidelines

• Submissions will open on January 1st and will remain open until March 31st. The first 200 submissions to the contest are free, but the contest will not close entirely after we reach 200 submissions. Once the contest collects 200 submissions, there will be a $4 submission fee for additional submissions, but the contest category will remain open.
• Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit Volume 20.​ Submissions that were submitted to Polyphony Lit Volume 20 will receive feedback from the editors, but for the seasonal contests, only the winning submissions will receive feedback from the judge.
• If you have already submitted your work to the Volume 20 category, then please do not send the same submission to the contest category.
• If you submit to the contest category first and your work is declined, then you may submit it to the Volume 21 category or future contests after this contest is finished.

Writer Qualifications

• High school students (aged 14-18) from anywhere in the world are eligible to submit.
• We do not accept submissions from any editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.
• Submit a maximum of three pieces.
• If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document may be withdrawn, and you will be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.
• We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.
• Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards

Length

• Poetry must be 80 lines or less.
• Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.

Formatting

• Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.
• We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.
• We prefer common conventions:                                        
  • Color: Black & white
  • Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles
  • Font Type: Times or Times New Roman
  • Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.

      

Using Submittable

• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
• Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
• The first 200 submissions for this contest are free. Once the contest collects 200 submissions, there will be a $4 submission fee for additional submissions, but the contest category will remain open. For this reason, we recommend submitting early.

Prize

There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:

• Publication in Polyphony Lit Volume 21
• Eligibility for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards (if work is previously unpublished)
• Editorial feedback from the Contest Judge
• A full scholarship for Polyphony Lit’s "How to be a Literary Editor" course. Upon completion of the course, students will be eligible to join the editorial staff of Polyphony Lit!
• Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the Judge.​

Additional Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction​

• At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.
• We do not look for op-ed pieces, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays.
• We would advise reading some samples of our work, in order to understand the material that we publish. Here are some samples of creative nonfiction that we have published:
• Memories of the Boy I Didn't Know
• responses to love
• Holiday in a Burning City

Art Guidelines

Artist Qualifications​

• High school students (aged 14-18) from anywhere in the world are eligible to submit.
• For the art category, we welcome multiple submissions.

Artwork Guidelines​​

• Submitted artwork will be considered for the following categories: (1) Cover Art (which will appear both on the website and in print), and (2) Promotional Art (which will appear on social media, on our website, and in our online workshops).
• Images must be a .PNG or .JPG file.
• Images must be at least 2700 x 1800 pixels. Images with low resolution will not be eligible for cover art.
• Images must have a resolution of at least 300 DPI (dots per inch).
• Portrait orientation (6 x 9 inches or equivalent dimensions) is preferred.
• Polyphony means “many voices,” which you can use as inspiration for your design. You are not limited to that theme, as we are looking for the creativity and imagination of your visual art to be a match for the wide-ranging literary works contained in our annual volume.
• We accept simultaneous submissions but if the piece is accepted elsewhere, please notify us immediately. Only previously unpublished artwork is eligible.
• All submissions must be original and may include drawings, paintings, collages, photographs, or mixed media.

Using Submittable​

• In the submission form, please select "Cover Art" as the genre for your submission.
• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.
• Upload only one piece per submission file. To submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.
• There is no fee to submit.
• We do not provide feedback on cover art submissions. If your piece is accepted for publication, we will notify you at the close of our submission cycle.
• Please note that submissions will remain open until May 31st 2026 and selections will be made around June 2026.
• If you are submitting visual art, you give us permission to publish your work as cover art, t-shirt art, or promotional art on Polyphony Lit's platforms as outlined by Polyphony Lit's Copyright Policies.