Submission Guidelines

Ottawa Arts Review accepts all types of poetry and prose, including plays, short stories, and interviews. We also accept all forms of visual art, including comics, photography, paintings, sketches, etc. Please follow the below guidelines to ensure your work will be considered for publication.

General Guidelines

  • Each submission may contain up to six (6) poems, six (6) visual art pieces, two (2) shorter prose pieces and one (1) play or novella.
  • Ottawa Arts Review accepts submissions via our website. Mailed submissions will not be considered or returned. All written submissions, including contributor bios, must be submitted as either a Word document, plain text, PDF, or a Pages document.
  • Please include your name and the titles of the pieces you are submitting in the body of your email.
  • Judging is done through a double-blind process, and pieces are selected based on individual merit. See “What Happens to Your Submission” for more information.
  • Ottawa Arts Review does not accept any submission that is pornographic, contains hate-speech, is plagiarized, or may be considered libellous. Submitting such material will disqualify you from submitting to Ottawa Arts Review in the future.
  • Ottawa Arts Review does not accept any submission whose content is pornographic, contains hate-speech, is plagiarized, or may be considered libellous. Submitting such material will disqualify you from submitting to Ottawa Arts Review in the future.

Poetry

  • OAR accepts both traditional and experimental poetry, not to exceed 150 lines.
  • We seek to publish three to five poems per author, but consider individual submissions as well.
  • Acceptable submission formats: doc,  docx, txt. Please no scans or mailed submissions.

Prose

  • OAR accepts both traditional and experimental prose, not to exceed 2000 words. There is no minimum length for prose submissions.
  • We do not publish excerpts from longer works of prose, regardless of prior publication status.
  • We are particularly keen to work with author-illustrators.
  • Acceptable submission formats: doc, docx, txt. Please no scans or mailed submissions.

Visual Art

  • OAR accepts visual art in the form of photographs, paintings, sketches, and digital art.
  • Submissions should be free of watermarks and visible copyright symbols.
  • Submissions must be at least 200 dpi.
  • Visual art submissions may be printed in black and white or colour, at the discretion of OAR staff.
  • Acceptable submission formats: JPEG, PDF, EPS. Please no scans or mailed submissions.
  • Comics should be no more than four 8.5″ by 11″ pages in length.
  • Please note that Ottawa Arts Review is printed with pages sized 5.5″ by 8.5″.

Miscellaneous

  • Ottawa Arts Review occasionally publishes material such as interviews with established authors. If you are interested in conducting or participating in an interview, query the Editorial Board using the Contact Page.
  • If you would like to submit work in a format not included in our guidelines, please query the Editorial Board using the Contact Page.

Formatting Requirements

  • Prose and poetry  be should be submitted as follows:
    • Use an easily read typeface like Times New Roman, Courier, Arial or Calibri in 12 pt font, double spaced, with left-justified paragraphs.
    • Do not use spaces or the tab key to create indents. Use the indent and margin tools available in Word, Open Office, etc.
  • We will endeavour to maintain your layout and formatting (such as italics and boldface type), but please note that Ottawa Arts Review is printed with pages sized 5.5″ by 8.5″, which may affect the layout of creative indents or line-breaks on letter-sized drafts.
  • Please note that Ottawa Arts Review has a blind submission process; it is not necessary to include your name with your submission document.

Rights

Ottawa Arts Review acquires First North American Serial Rights (FNASR) and non-exclusive perpetual electronic book rights (effective 19 November, 2012). By submitting your work, you agree to give OAR these rights.  OAR will not share any submissions other than with the OAR committee and volunteers. Exception: Individual works or excerpts may be published in The Fulcrum (University of Ottawa’s student-run English-language newspaper) and/or on the Ottawa Arts Review website and/or in promotional materials (such as broadsheets) at the discretion of the The Fulcrum and the Ottawa Arts Review Editor-in-Chief.