Latin Heritage

& Native American Heritage

Contest 2024

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Directrices del concurso en español

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Regras da Competição em Português

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¡Hola! In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Polyphony Lit is hosting a special contest for Latinx submitters. The theme of this year’s contest is “Food and Memory.” 

 

Latin America is a vibrant mosaic where our indigenous roots mixed with Spanish, Portuguese, and West African influences, yielding a rich tapestry of cultures marked by their music, clothing, and especially food. Take for example, Mexico’s defining staple- tacos. Or Cuba’s delicious ropa vieja, whose origins lie in Spanish Jews. 

 

We invite you to consider your own experiences with your culture’s cuisine and the memories associated with it. The five scenes are inextricably intertwined with our memory and a familiar flavor or smell can instantly transport us back in time. Perhaps you remember fondly your abuela’s tamales you ate as a child, or the sobremesa you shared with your family after eating a hearty paella. Just like languages, recipes are passed on from generation to generation, along with stories and traditions. Food is the bridge that connects us to our past and each other, as we continue to make the same dishes that our parents, and before them our abuelos, made. 

 

Identity can exist at the intersection of so many currents. Food is a perfect example of this. So many classics, from tamales to popcorn, were invented by Mesoamericans and other Native Americans thousands of years ago, then more and more layers were added by the subsequent peoples who reclaimed these delicacies. And if you identify with any Indigenous tribe or culture, or perhaps with several, feel free to explore the many facets of identity and food in your writing!

 

So how did the food of your culture, and the people that made it, shape you? Share with us your reflections and your history.  We take submissions in English, español, y português- so send us your best poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. We can’t wait to see what you submit!

 

If your piece is written primarily in one of these languages, but also features brief words or phrases written in another language, then we will certainly consider multilingual pieces like this, but please keep in mind that our contest readers will only be able to provide English translations for the languages listed above. For multilingual words and phrases, you are welcome to provide English translations of your own as footnotes or as part of the context in the piece.​

 

Looking for examples that Polyphony Lit has published already? Then check out Vuelve a Casa by Zanna Vasquez and Petals Seared Into Skin by Luiza Louback.​

 

Interested in honing your poetry-writing skills for the contest? Then try taking our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days. This workshop will help you to brainstorm, draft, and revise poems of your own!

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Interested in becoming an editor for Polyphony Lit? Take our editorial training course and join the staff!

 

Latin Heritage & Native American Heritage Contest Guidelines

• Submissions will open on September 1st and will remain open until November 30th or until we reach our submission cap of 200 submissions.

• Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit Volume 20.​ Submissions to Polyphony Lit Volume 20 will receive feedback from the editors, but for the seasonal contests, only the winning submissions will receive feedback from the judge.

• If you have already submitted your work to the Volume 20 category, then please do not send the same submission to the Latin Heritage & Native American Heritage Contest category.

• If you submit to the Latin Heritage & Native American Heritage Contest category first and your work is declined, then you may submit it to the Volume 21 category after the contest is finished.

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Writer Qualifications

• High school students who identify as Latinx or Native American are eligible to submit. For ease of reference, we roughly define this as writers of Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish origin (for example: Mexican or Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Colombian, etc), writers who identify as Central / South America Indigenous Peoples (for example: Amerindian, K’iche’, Yucatec, Miskitos, Quechua, Chibcha, etc), and writers who identify as North American Indigenous Peoples (Eg: Navajo nation, Blackfeet tribe, Native Village, Nome Eskimo Community, First Nations, etc). However, we understand that people of Latin American and Indigenous descent often come from many different backgrounds, so we hope that you will not be limited in any way by these categories.

• We do not accept submissions from editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.

• Works may be written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. If your piece is written primarily in one of these languages, but also features brief words or phrases written in another language, then we will certainly consider multilingual pieces like this, but please keep in mind that our contest readers will only be able to provide English translations for the languages listed above. For multilingual words and phrases, you are welcome to provide English translations of your own as footnotes or as part of the context in the piece.

• Submit a maximum of three pieces.

• If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document will be withdrawn, and you will be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.

• We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.

• Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards.

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Length

• Poetry must be 80 lines or less.

• Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.

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Formatting

• Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.

• Submissions longer than one page should have the page number inserted at the top (right or left side) of every page, as it would help our Judge specify the location for their commentary.

• We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.

• We prefer common conventions:

  • Color: Black & white

  • Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles

  • Font Type: Times or Times New Roman

  • Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.

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Using Submittable

• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.

• Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.

• Submissions for this contest are free.

• There is a submission cap of 200 submissions, so we may close submissions for the contest before the deadline if we receive 200 submissions. We recommend submitting early, to ensure that you do not miss the deadline.

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Prize

There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:

• Publication in Polyphony Lit Volume 20

• Eligibility for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards

• Editorial feedback from the Contest Judge

• Social media posts announcing the winners

• An honorary emblem next to the published work on the website

• A full scholarship for Polyphony Lit’s "How to be a Literary Editor" course. Upon completion of the course, students will be eligible to join the editorial staff of Polyphony Lit!

• Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the Judge.

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Additional Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction​

• At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.

• We do not look for op-ed pieces, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays.

• We would advise reading some samples of our work, in order to understand the material that we publish. Here are some samples of creative nonfiction that we have published:

• Memories of the Boy I Didn't Know

• responses to love

• Holiday in a Burning City