Frequently Asked Questions

For prose, poetry, and play excerpts, please submit a PDF. High-quality JPEGs are preferred for visual art submissions. Within the experimental category, you can use whichever file type best suits the medium you're working in, although MP3 files are preferred for submissions with an audio component.

Yes, but please try to title your work if you can.

This year’s theme is Oddities and Curiosities. If you want some inspiration for this theme, please check our home page or view our pinterest board. [include button for pinterest board]

Nope! We enjoy it when works are on-theme, but ultimately that is not a factor in which works are published in the magazine.

Your work will be copyrighted through Rushlight and we may choose to use it in presentations, the website, or social media posts, but you will receive credit for all usages. However, we very much do not own your work! Feel free to submit the same pieces you submitted to Rushlight to other literary magazines, as long as you let them know you also submitted it to us and make sure they accept works that have already been submitted elsewhere.

We ask that you not submit work to us if you have submitted that exact work already to another magazine.

Yes! We encourage students to submit to both Smudge and Rushlight. Both magazines just ask that you submit different pieces to us so that we do not end up with duplicate submissions.

All work is appropriate to submit to Rushlight, even pieces that contain dark and/or sexual themes. If we for some reason have an issue with something submitted, that work simply will not make the final collection but there are no further consequences for submitting something that does not fit our vibe.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes!