Sometimes a large number of phenomenal pieces come into our submissions box at the same time. We’re dedicated to printing as much quality work from the university as possible, but unfortunately we only have a certain amount of space available in each edition. Instead of outright rejecting a piece that, when submitted during a less competitive time, would have made the cut, we simply save the document to our backlog.

If your piece is in the backlog, it will get published in some way or another. We will wait until we’ve had sufficient, high quality submissions in that genre (poetry, prose, artwork) for the edition after the one that you initially submitted to. Once we’re content that we have enough submissions, we will publish our backlog of that genre on our website. Most backlog pieces will only be published digitally.

In the unlikely case that we are lacking pieces in a genre for our next edition (for example, if so many poets submitted to our midterm edition that there aren’t any fresh poems for our end of term edition), we will take the backlog pieces and place them in the submissions box to be re-evaluated. If this happens, and your piece is selected for the next edition, it will be printed and digitally published. If this happens and your piece is not selected for the next edition, it will be digitally published.

We maintain the right to remove things from our backlog without publishing and without specifying why. This is unlikely to happen. Some situations that might bring about this situation include: if the editors decide through a consensus that the piece no longer fits with the image of the magazine; if the student who submitted the piece is no longer a student or has been the centre of recent controversy; if the newly elected editors in Term 3 disagree with the previous editorial team’s decision.

A line of commnication with the author of the piece will be maintained during a backlog situation. We will let you know if your piece is in the backlog, when it will be published, and how it will be published. Pieces may be withdrawn from the backlog at any time prior to the closing of a submissions box. To do this, simply email the editorial team.