Writers, the deadline for Sand Hills is Dec. 15

Since its founding in 1973, Sand Hills Literary Magazine has had the goal of publishing the best creative work by undergraduate students at Augusta University. Now, Sand Hills is looking for the best quality creative work nationwide.

This spring, Sand Hills will debut its first nationally marketed issue. This growth will help to push Sand Hills into a category more on par with journals at peer institutions.

However, while submissions to the magazine are now open to everyone, Sand Hills remains committed to publishing Augusta University writers. Louise Shivers and Judith Ortiz Cofer are examples of award-winning authors and alumnae who have works featured in Sand Hills, and, more recently, contributors to the magazine have also been published in The Oxford American, Seventeen and Playboy.

Ultimately, the goal is for a majority of the work published to come from students, faculty and staff.

In addition to the magazine showcasing work from Augusta University contributors, a new Sand Hills class has been created to help students understand the inner workings of literary journals. The staff is primarily comprised of members of a class, who read all of the submissions, vote on which pieces will be published and then work with the magazine through publication.

The push to a national market will offer even more experience for those working on the magazine while expanding opportunities for writers seeking publication.

“It is exciting,” said Anna Harris-Parker, assistant professor of English and advisor of Sand Hills. “We put the call out Sep. 1. Thanks to funding through the Office of Experiential Learning, we were able to put an ad in New Pages. So, once that ad went live online and the packs went out to different programs, that’s when we really saw the submissions go up.”

Submissions for Sand Hills are open until Friday, Dec. 15, and free for students, faculty and staff. For more information on Sand Hills and Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, visit them online.