30 North, a literary magazine published by North Central College, welcomes all kinds of submissions from NCC students and alumni and from undergraduate artists and writers across the nation. We welcome creative writing in all genres, as well as visual art and songwriting.
We welcome all kinds of submissions for consideration in next year’s edition set for Spring 2026!
When submitting:
- We cannot accept creative writing over 2,000 words.
- For visual art or photography, please submit a high quality JPEG, PNG, or TIFF with a resolution of 300 DPI. High quality photographs of sculptures are also accepted.
- When submitting a piece of writing, please submit your piece in the form of a single spaced Word document (ex: .docx). No PDFs, please.
- Submit each piece of art or writing separately (unless you are submitting a series of prose poems, flash fiction pieces, or modular short pieces that are meant to be considered as one cohesive piece).
- Limit three submissions (in any genre) per artist or writer.
- Indicate your institutional affiliation in your biographical note, which will be copyedited and published in the magazine, if your piece is accepted.
Please see the examples of creator biographies below for ideas on how to make your biographical note:
- Creator biography example #1: [insert name] is currently a student at [insert university] studying special education and art education. They are an assistant art teacher for middle school students on the autism spectrum and have a passion for inspiring students to use art as a way to connect themselves to the world, to others, and to express complex emotions or ideas. [insert name] exudes these same ideals in their artwork, striving for illustrations and artworks that reflect their intricate inner world.
- Creator biography example #2: [insert name] is an undergraduate student at [insert school] in [insert town, state]. Born and raised in New York City, this vibrant environment inspired a lifetime of creativity including a four-year stint at a performing arts school. This unique education provided the opportunity to merge their passion for both academic and creative writing in ways they hadn’t previously found in typical school settings. They enjoy rewatching ‘90s rom-coms with friends, writing love letters, and attempting ballet variations in their dorm room.
30 North reserves the right to perform mechanical edits to all accepted pieces, including grammar, spelling, punctuation, and paragraph formatting.
30 North does not accept submissions of any writing that was created—partially or entirely—with AI software. We reserve the right to withdraw acceptances from any work found to be AI-generated.