There are many great online resources that can help you craft the perfect cover letter. We suggest The Adroit Journal as a good reference point.
No. If you submit pieces to multiple genres, we will only publish one of your submissions based on editor preferences and the journal’s needs (e.g., we loved both your poems and your creative nonfiction essay, but are in need of more creative nonfiction, so we will accept your essay).
Yes. Acceptances will be sent out during the spring semester, so be sure to include a non-UCF email in your cover letter.
Yes. We request that you remove your name from all submitted work to keep the scoring process fair and unbiased; our editors do not receive the names of the authors who have submitted, only their pieces. That being said, if an editor recognizes your piece, they will sit out of the scoring process.
No. The Cypress Dome only publishes work that can stand on its own and consists of a closed narative.
No. The Cypress Dome only publishes work that has not been published elsewhere, including social media, blogs, or websites. Exceptions are made for private discussion boards, feedback forums, or workshop classes. We encourage you to wait until after your work is accepted and published to promote it.
Yes. Please include this information in your cover letter. If your piece is picked up somewhere else, please withdraw your submission. If only one piece from your submissions (e.g., one poem, one flash piece) is accepted elsewhere, do not withdraw your submission. Leave our editors a note.
No. We are open to all creative work. However, we kindly ask that you refrain from gratuitous use of gore, violence, expletives, and eroticism. Submissions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. You are encouraged but not required to include a content or trigger warning. More on this in the submission guidelines.
No. All submissions must be original to the author from inception to completion. This includes all use of AI. If a work is directly inspired by or after another poet or writer, please include a necessary epigraph.
No. All work will be considered by our editorial team as is. If selected for publication, your piece will undergo an editing process. During this time, you are welcome to propose any revisions/changes you wish to make to your submitted work. However, proposed changes may not be accepted by our editorial team if they significantly alter the work we received. If there was an error with a submission, please notify our editors as soon as possible using the “Messages” function on Submittable. Please do not withdraw your submission and resubmit a new one. All additional submissions within a single genre will be immediately rejected.
When your submission is received, Submittable will send you a confirmation email. Please check your spam filters and the email you used to sign in to Submittable. If you do not receive an email, please contact cdome@ucf.edu to make sure your submission was received (especially if you are submitting near the end of the Open Submission period).
If you have any questions, please contact us at cdome@ucf.edu. We cannot discuss any of your pieces during the submission process, nor can we accept any cash, food, or other gifts—your submissions are the only form of bribe we accept.
All work will be anonymously reviewed by a team of editors in each genre according to journal standards. Each submission will be voted on and then either accepted or denied.
Yes! Each November, our final Open Mic is also a contest to determine who will be published in the upcoming issue as that year’s Open Mic Winner. After audience members vote for their favorite Open Mic reader, three finalists are chosen, and the winner will be selected by The Cypress Dome editorial staff.
Final decisions on all submitted work will be made in the spring when all submissions have been reviewed. Responses are typically sent by the beginning of April.
If you are accepted, your piece will go through two rounds of editing. Our editorial staff will propose minor developmental edits and copyedits before your piece is published in the journal. You will have the opportunity to have multiple meetings with our editorial team to review these edits, but the editorial team has the right to rescind your acceptance if an agreement cannot be reached about the proposed edits.
Awards are given for the strongest submissions in each category. The Cypress Dome lead genre editors will select the winning entries. A celebratory reading will be held upon the release of the journal in late spring at our annual launch party. All contributors are invited to attend and will be acknowledged, though only recipients of the Editor’s Choice Awards will read.