Submission Rules
Eligibility
You must be a student enrolled at WJ for the 2025-2026 school year to submit. Submissions will be reviewed in the fall when the school year begins, but feel free to submit things over the summer! Please fill out a separate form for each submission! We will contact you if your submission has been selected for our 2025–26 issue either for the website or for the print magazine. Please note, submissions will be reviewed anonymously by staff. Submission names will only be revealed upon acceptance to the magazine.
General Requirements/Reminders
We receive many submissions each year and only accept a limited amount. Submissions are accepted based on both their merit and how they fit into the theme and layout of the magazine.
Submissions should be creative, reflect the artistic vision of the creator, and must be your original work. Submissions should not be directly based on another artist’s work (e.g an art tutorial video), and cannot be fanart of any kind (real life or fictional). Still lifes and original studies are acceptable.
Spectator is not the Pitch or Windup; we are a literary magazine that showcases creative writing, fine arts, and photography. If you have a piece that is more suitable to Pitch or Windup, such as sports photography, school event photography, friend group photos, and selfies, then we encourage you to check them out!
Can I Submit Multiple Times?
Yes! We encourage multiple submissions throughout the year, however, to ensure a fair and diverse representation of student talent, we have established the following submission guidelines:
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Maximum Submissions: Students are encouraged to submit multiple pieces, with a maximum of 10 submissions per student. The 10-submission maximum applies across all categories combined (e.g., writing and art).
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Print Publication Maximum: A maximum of 5 pieces per student will be selected for print publication in the magazine. If more than 5 pieces are accepted from a single student, the additional pieces (up to 5 more) will be featured in our online edition.
We strongly encourage students to submit multiple pieces across different categories. This allows you to showcase your diverse talents and increases your chances of being featured in our publication. Remember, you can submit up to 10 pieces in total, so don't hesitate to share your best work with us!
Writing Guidelines
Poetry & Prose
- All writing submissions should be submitted as a google doc. You must have your document either set to public view, shared with us, or made accessible through a link.
- Submissions should be in an easily readable font and format with the piece's title clearly indicated.
- Our policy states that we will not change key aspects of any writing. We must uphold the author's original vision and purpose. However, we ask that you check grammatical issues, including, but not limited to, capitalization, spelling, and the correct usage of punctuation. If there are still further grammatical issues, we will edit the piece accordingly while attempting to maintain the author's original purpose.
- We do not accept fanfiction
Art Guidelines
Important Note
We cannot access HEIC files which are commonly used as the image setting on iPhones. Please double check that all images you submit are in JPEG or PNG file format.​
Studio Art / Traditional
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When photographing your art, either crop your artwork neatly or leave distinct, even borders around it. Use a clean background.
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Use a high quality resolution photo - to print clearly it must be 300 dpi. Pieces should be photographed without any color or perspective distortion.
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Signatures can be present, but cannot distract from the composition of the work, as we may need to crop it out (We’ll still credit you, don’t worry!).
Multimedia (Non-traditional art materials/mixed traditional/digital)
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Submit a high-quality image of your work as a JPEG, PNG, TIFF, or other acceptable image format (Files Google Drive can read).
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Signatures can be present, but cannot distract from the composition of the painting, since we may need to crop it out (We’ll still credit you, don’t worry!).
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When photographing your work, follow the guidelines for studio art.
Digital
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- Submit a high-quality image of your work as a JPEG, PNG, TIFF, or other acceptable image format (Files Google Drive can read).
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- Signatures can be present, but cannot distract from the composition of the painting, since we may need to crop it out when formatting (We’ll still credit you, don’t worry!).
Reminders
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- Don’t submit your work as a CC file (Lightroom, Express, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) We don’t use CC and will not be able to open it.
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- Studio art does include ceramics and other sculptures!
Photography Guidelines
Submitting
- Photography of any kind (film, digital, etc.) is acceptable. Submit a high-quality image of your work as a JPEG, PNG, TIFF, or other acceptable image format (Files Google Drive can read). Grayscale and color photographs are both acceptable.
Restrictions
- Avoid sports photography, photography of school events, selfies, and photos of celebrities – they’re better suited for Pitch or Windup.
- We also want to create a well-rounded publication, so we encourage finding locations other than WJ to take photos.
Reminders
- Don’t submit your photo as a CC file (Photoshop, Photoshop Lightroom, Premiere Pro, etc.) We don’t use CC and will not be able to open it.