The Lighthouse Literary Magazine is currently accepting submissions for its sixth issue. It is an award-winning, annual publication that showcases student work in art, poetry, and spoken word. The magazine is managed by the Writers’ Ensemble club on campus.
“I am submitting to the Lighthouse Magazine because I like writing and I want more people to see my work. But at the same time, it is also more for me rather than other people. I want to get myself out there, and I feel like this could also look good on college applications,” said Club Member Tia Mitra (‘28).
Growing Through Creative Expression
This year, the magazine is accepting submissions until Tuesday, March 24. While the magazine is managed primarily by the Writers’ Ensemble club, submissions are open to all Pleasanton High School students. Last year, the magazine received 354 submissions.
“The Lighthouse Magazine was originally a collaboration between Foothill’s writing club and our writing club. But Foothill’s writing club no longer exists. So now the magazine is something we do independently. We also have it funded, and we run the whole thing,” said Salla.
Students do not need any prior experience to submit their work. For those looking to expand their creative writing skills or simply try something new, having their work published in a formal publication can be a strong motivator.
“I always like trying new things, and that is why I come to the Writers’ Ensemble club. This is a club where you take initiative and do something, then you can learn from that. And I kind of like it because it’s just pushing us to do stuff on our own rather than as a group, as a club,” said Club member Shruthika Vishnuram (‘28).
Freedom to Create
While there are some basic requirements to meet, students have full creative freedom over their work. As part of the submission form, they have to provide a link to their artwork and an artist’s statement. The artist statement describes the work and explains the main message and the inspiration behind it.
“We don’t want book-like submissions. We want short creative pieces that can reflect whatever you want to put out there. There’s no restrictions or anything like that. It’s just, don’t make it too long because we gotta read it. As the chief editors, we need to read it, and then we also have student editors, so they’re also gonna read it and go through it,” said Salla.
Achieving National Recognition
After submissions are looked over and the magazine is published, officers submit the issue to the NCTE REALM Awards. NCTE REALM stands for the National Council of Teachers of English Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines. It recognizes top student-produced literary magazines across the country. Last year, the Lighthouse Literary Magazine won a “Superior” from the NCTE’s REALM Contest, the second-highest rank possible.
“Students in the school would submit art or writing pieces, and, you know, we just edit. We look over them, and we edit them, and then we select them to go get submitted to the NTCE REALM Award,” said Publicity Officer Sanjana Salla (‘26).
