Submission Guidelines

Please read these guidelines:

You must include your name, year of birth, home address/city/state/zip, telephone number and the name of your school and English teacher on each submission. If possible, include your email address. You must be 12 to 19 years old to be published. Most published pieces are fewer than 2,500 words.

Any work you submit may be published in Early Excellence’s monthly print magazine, in our website; We don’t return submissions, so keep a copy.

Label all work fiction or nonfiction. Be sure to include a title.

Early Excellence has no deadlines. We accept submissions all year long. If, however, you are sending work that is holiday-specific, please try to get it in at least two months before the holiday.

Include the following originality statement at the end of each submission: “This will certify that the above work is completely original,” followed by your full name to affirm this is your work.

Request anonymity. If due to the very personal nature of a piece you don’t want your name published, we will respect your request, but you still must include name and address information.

Writing may be edited, and we reserve the right to publish our edited version without your prior approval. We may not print your name on sensitive personal articles and in rare cases we may change names to protect individuals’ identities.

All materials submitted become the property of Early E. Mag. By submitting your work to us, you are giving Early Excellence and its partners, affiliates and licensees the non-exclusive right to publish your work in any format, including all print, electronic and online media. Teen Ink may edit or abridge your work at its sole discretion. Early Excellence is in the process of becoming – However all work submitted through our portal is considered Early E. Mag`s property, all individual contributors to Early Excellence retain the right to submit their work for non-exclusive publication elsewhere, and you have our permission to do so.

Submitting Art and Photographs

You must include your name, year of birth, home address/city/state/zip, telephone number and the name of your school and art/photography or English teacher affixed to the back of each submission. If possible, include your email address. If emailing, include all the information in the body of the email.

We can’t return artwork or photographs, but we can use a good photocopy (color if appropriate) or a clear photograph of your work. You can email your art and photography to [email protected] To send artwork or photographs by email attachment, scan items as a greyscale, line art or color file of at least 200 dpi and smaller than 10mb when saved. Do not scan as a halftone. Save all items as a TIF (.tif), PICT or BMP file, before sending as an attachment.

Do not send a version of someone else’s work, or drawing of a copyrighted character, like Wonder woman etc….

Email art and photographs to [email protected]

Email any questions about the best way to send art submissions to [email protected]

Submitting Videos

Email all video submissions to [email protected], the only formats we accept are .MOV, .AVI, .MPEG, and .WMV. Your video can be no longer than 2 minutes.

You must include your name, year of birth, home address/city/state/zip, telephone number and the name of your school in the body of the email. You must be 13 to 19 years old to be considered.

In the subject line of your email include a title and identify the genre of your work as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, review, etc. (Example: My Video Title – musical).

Include the following originality statement in the body of your email: “This will certify that the attached work is completely original,” followed by your full name to affirm this is your work.

Video submissions must not contain someone else’s or copyrighted work, such as music videos or movie clips. If your video is selected, you will be recognized in Early E. Mag up coming print magazine and published on our website. You can check out our current videos at EralyE.org/Video.

Email any questions about submitting your video to [email protected]

Submitting work to Early Excellence Contests

Writing Contests: Follow the guidelines for submitting written work to Early Excellence. All work will be considered for publication and the contests.

FAQ

Who decides what gets published?

Our professional editorial staff reviews thousands of submissions each year. Every submission is read by at least one, usually two, editors and we pick the best of the best for each section of Early Excellence’s print magazine and website.

I sent something in a few months ago, but it has not been published. Should I do anything?

Because of the volume of submissions, we get each year, we can only publish a fraction of them, and we can’t check to see if yours was received. We keep suitable submissions on file for one year, so your work may be published months after it is sent. Of course, sending us more of your work increases your chances of getting published!

Are some kinds of submissions more likely to get published?

We look for a variety of work by authors and artists from across the country. Some sections, like the Art Gallery, Environment and Community Service have fewer submissions, so there is less competition to get published. Poetry has the most submissions. Most published pieces are fewer than 2,500 words.

What are Early Excellence’s editorial categories? Do I have to pick a category?

The categories are: Art; Poetry; Fiction; Sports; Opinion; Community Service; Nonfiction (including Pride and Prejudice, Travel and Culture, Environment, You and Your Health, What Matters, Heroes, Cars, Jobs and Money); Reviews (books, movies, music, colleges, TV, web sites, video games, summer programs); College Essays and Articles; and Interviews. You don’t have to pick a category for your submission, but you must tell us if it is fiction, nonfiction or a college essay.

What kind of artwork can I send?

You can send photocopies or high-quality photographs of any kind of artwork, including oil and watercolor paintings, sculpture, collage, computer graphics and much more! If you choose to send your original artwork or photographs, remember that we can’t return them. Anyone can submit photos to Early Excellence! Send us clear snapshots of your friends and you could see them on our website or in the magazine. See our guidelines for more on sending artwork and photos.

How will I know if I get published?

If you are published in Early Excellences monthly print magazine, you’ll receive a letter from us, and a copy of the issue. If you’re published on the Web you will receive email notification.

Who will see my work if it is published?

Early Excellences print magazine goes to hundreds of thousands of teens and teachers across the Region. Lots of adults receive the print edition too, including celebrities (see the We’re Listening list). And, of course, anyone could see your writing and artwork on this website.