With great thanks to Burnley Words Festival and SPF funding from Burnley Borough Council and BPRCVS, and with support and guidance from Mag North, we are thrilled to announce that The Burnley View Point, a brand new online magazine, celebrating Burnley voices & stories, is launching its debut edition.
Our first theme will celebrate Warmth & Winter (Festivities). As the days grow colder, we want to fill our new website with the heartwarming stories, festive traditions, and rich experiences that make our community special. As part of this first edition, we are inviting you to contribute in any way you wish.
Pieces might include, a poem inspired by a winter walk along the canal, a piece about your family traditions at this time of year, recipes for a traditional Burnley feast. We’d love to see your wintery photographs of the local landscape, or illustrations inspired by this time of year.
We are looking for:
- Poetry, Short Stories, and Anecdotes (poetry up to 40 lines, stories up to 1500 words)
- Essays and News Articles (works up to 1,500 words)
- Recipes and How-Tos (max size one side A4)
- Photographs (JPEG files with a minimum of 300 dpi)
- Short-format Videos (videos should come with a short description)
- Anything you think would fit into the first edition of The Burnley ViewPoint
Join us in celebrating Burnley’s warmth, creativity, and community. Attach your submissions as a word document and send them to:
Deadline for initial Submissions: 4 December 2024
The website will initially go live mid December, and we will be updating with new work on a regular basis after that. In January/February we will be especially interested in & publishing work along the theme of new beginnings, and New Year traditions. We will be regularly releasing open calls for submissions.
Submission Guidelines:
All submissions should be titled with your name and the piece’s title, and submitted as a Word document or PDF file.
All pieces of writing should be in Times New Roman, size 11.
Original Work Only: We only accept original work created by you. No AI-generated content or plagiarised pieces will be considered. We value authentic voices and genuine stories from Burnley (and the surrounding areas), so please ensure your submission is entirely your own creation.
Services and Collaborations:
If you’re an artist, graphic designer, editor, or marketing expert interested in collaborating or offering your services to help shape this publication, we’d love to hear from you.
Email us at [email protected] to discuss how we can work together.
FAQ’s
- Do I need to submit an image to go along with a written piece?
No. We are also looking for photographers and illustrators to submit their work and we will pair relevant images and written pieces together. However, if you do have a your own image you wish to go along with your piece please send it along with your submission.
- Does the piece need to be brand new? Can it be something that has been published else where?
As long as you have permission to share your piece else where then we are happy for you to send previously published work. Please provide details of where and how your piece has previously being published and any restrictions on its use.
- Do I need to be from Burnley to submit a piece to the magazine?
No, the magazine and this project is dedicated to celebrating the voices of Burnley and the surrounding areas. We ask that work is relevant to the theme of the call out.
- Will the magazine ever be printed?
We have plans for a future printed physical version of the magazine, but right now the magazine is only online. If we ever decide to publish your work in a different format, we will discuss this with you well in advance.
- Is this a paid opportunity?
No, right now there are no paid opportunities linked to the magazine.
- I don’t have something completely relevant to the theme – can I send it anyway?
We ask at this point that work submitted has some connection to the theme. This is our first call out, and we are still working out how much capacity our team of volunteers has for reading through submissions. In the future there will be more open call outs, but for our first round please stick to the theme. If we do receive something that we feel isn’t quite right for our first upload, we will keep it on file.
- Can I use a pen name?
Yes, please ensure that whatever name you attach to your submission, is the name you wish to be published by.
- If my piece isn’t chosen will I receive feedback
The magazine is currently entirely ran by volunteers, which means that extensive feedback may not always be possible, but we are aiming to communicate clearly with everyone who submits, about if and when their piece will be published.
- Can I submit more than one piece?
At this point we ask you to submit only one piece. Submitting to this first call out doesn’t prevent you from submitting other pieces in the future.
- When will the first edition be available?
We are aiming for an initial ‘Go Live’ date of the 13th December. With regular new content being published on a monthly basis after that. This is a brand new venture, and the magazine is ran entirely by volunteers and so these dates may change. We will aim to keep everyone updated of any significant changes to the timeline.
- What happens once I have submitted? When will I find out if my piece is going to be published?
We are a group of volunteers meeting on a weekly basis to work on the magazine. Our lead editors will be mainly in charge of reading through submissions and preparing them for publication. We will aim to respond to everyone who submits work and keep them regularly updated on if, when and how we will be publishing their work. We will be in touch with everyone ahead of the first publication date of the 13th December.
This project celebrates writing and community; we welcome new and established writers and creatives. We are an inclusive organisation funded by public funding and reserve the right to refuse to publish anything that promotes violence or hate speech. We are committed topublishing a diverse and inclusive range of pieces.
This project is made possible by funding and support from:
