Submissions are currently closed

Pier Review magazine is run by and for the students of the University of Brighton, and so publish work from current Brighton students and alumni.

General Submission Guidelines for Pier Review

Submission of your work indicates acceptance of these submission guidelines. Please read them carefully. 

Take a look at the work we’ve already published to get a sense of what to send. We accept interviews, reviews, poetry, short stories, flash fiction, essays and letters. We also welcome hybrid or visual narrative explorations like graphic narratives, artwork, photography, audio files and videos, as long as you have permission from the creators and participants.

We are looking for your best work, so no first drafts please. We want work that best represents you as a creative person. We want your finest craft, your truest voice, your most engaging art.

  • All submissions should be submitted via the email address below.
  • Put the category (e.g. POEM) and the title of the piece in the subject headline in BLOCK CAPITALS.
  • Please include your name and contact information in the body of the email and on the document itself.
  • If there is more than one writer / creator, indicate that clearly on the submission.
  • Submit your writing in .doc, .docx, .rtf, .txt format.
  • Submit images as JPEG files.
  • Audio files should be MP3 files.
  • Videos should be MP4 files or YouTube / Vimeo links.
  • Present written work in an easy-to-read font, such as Arial, Times New Roman or Helvetica, in at least point 11.

Specific Guidelines

Prose, Fiction, Non Fiction, Reviews, Interviews etc. 

  • We prefer to read work up to 1000 words.
  • We will consider work between 1000-3500 words under certain circumstances.
  • Please submit one piece at a time.
  • Prose should be double spaced.

Poems

  • Send poems of up to 80 lines.
  • We will accept 1-3 poems per submission.
  • Consider sending poems with linking themes or ideas.

Images

If we agree to publish your work, we’ll find an image to accompany it, but if you have a suitable image that will look amazing AND is not protected by copyright let us know.

  • You can use images you’ve created yourself.
  • You can find images on Unsplash or Pixabay, or search for images that are free to use under ‘creative commons’, but we need to know the source.
  • Under UoB guidelines, all images must be accompanied by alt text – that is a brief description of the image.
  • We can’t use images that have no provenance.

Visual storytelling

  • We will accept up to 4 pages of artwork or photography
  • 1 piece per submission
  • Jpeg format preferred
  • Please confirm in your email that you have the permission of subjects and / or that you are the creator of the artwork / photos.

Spoken-Word and Performance

  • We will usually consider videos up to 3 minutes long and audio files of up to 10 mins long.
  • 1 piece per submission
  • Please email with a description of what you’d like to submit so we can discuss it with you first.
  • Please confirm in your email that you have the permission of subjects, or the hosts of any event involved, and / or that you are the creator of the video.

Failure to follow these guidelines may lead to your work being rejected. 

F.A.Qs

Will I get feedback?

No.

Although we aim to respond to all submissions, no feedback will be provided. Ask tutors and peers for feedback before sending your work.

When will I hear from you?

It depends.

During termtime, probably quite quickly. But you should allow up to three months for us to provide a decision on your submission.

Can my work have appeared elsewhere?

Not really.

On your personal blog or on social media is fine, otherwise please only submit unpublished work.

Can I submit coursework once it’s been assessed?

Yes!

But get your tutor’s permission to submit work if you want to send it before it’s been assessed. They will probably ask you to wait until it’s been marked.

What happens if I submit something and then change my mind?

Contact us.

Just let us know. We will take your work down. If you don’t hear anything, write to a member of Creative Writing staff.

Who owns the rights to my work?

You do.

We are the happy hosts of your creative efforts, helping to share your work with a wider audience.

Will my work be edited?

Probably.

The submission will be reviewed by our editorial team and amendments might be made to improve the quality. This could include changes like typos and correcting grammar. We will contact you for your approval. You may be asked to edit the work yourself and resubmit it.

Can I submit my work elsewhere once it has appeared on Pier Review?

Assume that you can’t.

Other publications / competitions usually stipulate that work can’t have been published elsewhere, so if you want to submit this particular piece of work to other opportunities, don’t send it to us. Always check the submission guidelines for each opportunity carefully – they are all different.

Email us on Teams

You submit your work by email.

We have a pretty funky email address. That’s because it sends your work directly to a submissions box on Microsoft Teams. It’s:

70517ec7.unibrightonac.onmicrosoft.com@uk.teams.ms

You can copy and paste that into the ‘to’ field of an email or click here to email us and we’ll see your submission in the Pier Review Team.

Updated April 24