Penumbra Process: Voting on Submissions

At this time of year, the Penumbra Online staff is typically sorting through the many submissions we receive, reading through them all, discussing our thoughts, and ultimately voting on which pieces we believe should be featured in this edition of Penumbra Online. This fall, our theme is "Love for Others," which promotes all the aspects that go into loving those around us. We have received numerous poems, short stories, and artworks focusing on this theme, and it is a delight to see how so many people interpret love in various ways!

During these next coming weeks, we will continue discussing and selecting pieces we believe should be featured in this edition of the journal with the rest of the Penumbra Online staff. Since our staff is relatively small, we all get a chance to speak on which pieces we think deserve a spot! As a democratic staff, we allow others to argue for a piece's spot in the journal and vote on whether we wish to have it featured or not. The selection process itself is honestly my favorite part of the journal's process, despite it being fairly challenging. We receive so many pieces, all of them incredibly unique, differing in style and content, but in the end, we must choose a fraction of what we get to see. By the end of this process, we should have a cohesive collection of pieces that express numerous perspectives on "Love for Others" in an eloquent, refreshing way.  

Being able to discuss the many works from our passionate submitters and appreciate the array of ways others interpret the same theme is what makes being a part of Penumbra and Penumbra Online so enjoyable. We hope that submitters continue to send their work, even after our Fall call closes! Soon we will be opening our call for the Spring edition of Penumbra, which will consist of a virtual as well as printed version of the journal. This call is typically up in late November.

​We look forward to seeing your work!

Author

Andrea Wagner