CAESURA High School Writing Contest Guidelines 

General Guidelines 

We're excited to see what you create! 

Caesura is accepting entries in original fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short film, and journalistic reportage from currently enrolled high school students in the United States.  

• All work must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs and social media.  
• Rights revert back to the author/creator upon publication. 
• Founded in 1990, Caesura is the literary magazine of Indiana Wesleyan University. As such, we are unable to publish any material containing profanity. 
• We will not accept any work created with assistance by AI. 
• We do not accept multiple submissions. Please only send one submission across all categories. 
• We do accept simultaneous submissions. However, please promptly withdraw your submission if your work is accepted at another publication. 
• All Winners and Finalists will be published in Caesura, either in print or online. 
• We’ll announce the short list of Finalists and Winners in the month of March. Winners in each category will receive a $1000 scholarship to attend IWU. 
• Both Winners and Finalists will be invited to the Indiana Wesleyan University campus on April 23rd to present/read their work. 

 Genre-Specific Guidelines Prose 

• Submit one piece of short fiction or creative nonfiction, up to 1,000 words in length. 

 Poetry 

• Submit up to five poems, not to exceed 5 pages in total length. 

Short Film 

• Submit an original short film of a duration between 2 and 5 minutes in length. 

 Journalistic Reportage 

• Submit a short article of journalistic quality, up to 2000 words in length. 

CAESURA Submission for IWU STUDENTS General Guidelines 

We want to see your best work!

Caesura is accepting entries in original fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and art from currently enrolled IWU students.    

• All work must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs and social media.    
• All submissions must be received anonymously. Do not include your name on the work itself. 
• Rights revert back to the author/creator upon publication.   
• Founded in 1990, Caesura is the literary magazine of Indiana Wesleyan University. As such, we are unable to publish any material containing profanity. 
• We will not accept any work created with assistance by AI.  
• We do not accept multiple submissions. Please only send one submission across all categories. However, you may submit multiple pieces in the same submission (e.g. 2 poems and 3 pieces of art), not to exceed 5 pieces or 1000 words in total. 
• NOTE: You must submit all pieces in one submission entry. If you are submitting more than one piece, do not submit each piece separately. It is best to put all of your submissions on one file to attach to your submission. You won't be able to edit your submission entry after submitting.  
• We do accept simultaneous submissions. However, please promptly withdraw your submission if your work is accepted at another publication.   
• Formatting: 1) Bold and left justify titles 2) left justify all poetry and prose (unless using a creative and intentional form) 3) Times New Roman in 12 pt. font (unless using a different font/size for creative and intentional purposes) 
• Submissions are free! As a direct corollary, we are also unable to provide payment for publication at this time.   
• Anonymous submissions only please! Submitter’s name should not appear anywhere on the submissions 

 Genre-Specific Guidelines 

Prose 

• Submit one piece of short fiction or creative nonfiction, up to 1,000 words in length, or multiple flash pieces that do not exceed a total of 1000 words. 

Poetry 

• Submit up to five poems, not to exceed 5 pages in total length. 

Art  

• Submit up to five works of art in .tiff or .eps format. We accept various forms of media, including painting, photography, design, sculpture, etc.