How to Submit

The Cypress Dome is open to all UCF students, including both undergraduate and graduate students.

We accept submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, flash fiction/nonfiction, graphic narratives, and visual art online via Submittable. Individual submission guidelines for each category can be found in our Submission Guidelines below.

Early Bird Feedback
Open from October 15th to October 30th

We’re happy to offer an opportunity for brief feedback to any writers who submit during this period. This pre-submission period does not count toward a submission for The Cypress Dome’s next issue, nor is it a guarantee that your piece will be accepted. However, it is a great opportunity to hear from our editorial staff, and you’ll receive feedback in time to revise your piece before general submissions. For Early Bird Feedback, please only submit one submission per person: one poem for poetry, one short story/essay of up to 6,000 words for fiction and creative nonfiction, or one piece of flash fiction/creative nonfiction of up to 1,000 words. All additional submissions will be automatically withdrawn. 

General Submissions
Open from November 15th to December 31st

37th Edition Theme: Tempest

The Cypress Dome invites you to explore the idea of Tempest. A Tempest is a violent and raging storm. When it tears through a landscape, it leaves only destruction in its wake. For this edition, we want to hear about your Tempest: whether it’s physical or emotional, whether you survived it or caused it, or whether it’s worlds away or right next door. When you’re trapped in the eye of the Tempest, the only way to get through is to weather the storm.

No two people are the same, and no two interpretations need to be either. Our theme is here to serve as a spark for your imagination, not a boundary. We’d love to see where this theme takes your work, no matter what form it takes.

Submission Guidelines

All submissions should include a professional cover letter (see “Submission FAQ”). Do not include any personal or identifying information on your manuscript. All submissions will be evaluated anonymously. Submissions that include personal information (excluding the cover letter) will be automatically rejected.

We allow multiple submissions, but please only submit once per category (e.g., you may submit one poem submission, one flash fiction piece, and an art submission, but you may not submit two fiction pieces or two graphic narratives). Additional submissions in a single category will be automatically withdrawn. We do not accept previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are fine, as long as you include this in your cover letter and let us know if the piece gets accepted elsewhere.

All work must be entirely your own from inception to execution. We do not accept AI-generated or altered submissions. You have creative freedom, but please 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.

Submissions will receive a response in the spring semester. We do not provide individual submissions updates. If you need to withdraw one of your pieces, please do so using Submittable.

For questions, first, visit “Submission FAQ”, then reach out to our editors at cdome@ucf.edu.

Poetry
We accept a maximum of three poems per submission, formatted together in a single document. We are open to all forms and styles of poetry, including but not limited to prose poetry, experimental poetry, and hybrid work.

All submissions must be single-spaced and in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, or equivalent. Please start each poem on a new page and include a title for each one.

To learn more about what this year’s poetry team is interested in, visit “What We’re Looking For.”

Fiction & Nonfiction
We accept only one short story or one essay of up to 6,000 words per submission. For fiction, we are open to literary fiction, elevated interpretations of familiar genres, experimental fiction, and hybrid work. For creative nonfiction, we are open to memoirs, personal essays, literary journalism, lyric essays, visual essays, and hybrid work.

We accept flash submissions up to 1,000 words. You may submit up to three flash pieces together in a single document, but you must start each piece on a new page. Specify the genre (fiction or nonfiction) of the piece(s) in your cover letter. Please only submit flash pieces of the same genre.

All submissions must be double-spaced and in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, or equivalent.

To learn more about what this year’s fiction and nonfiction teams are interested in, visit “What We’re Looking For.”

Visual Art & Graphic Narrative
We accept a maximum of five pieces of artwork per submission, including but not limited to: drawings, paintings, photography, and digital art. All artwork should be submitted as a high-quality image. The best way to achieve this is by scanning the image and uploading the PDF file to the proper form on Submittable (there are many free resources online that can achieve this such as CamScanner). Photos, low-resolution images, or images where the art is obscured will not be accepted.

Visual art submissions also have the opportunity to have their piece selected as the cover art for the upcoming issue. Please note in your cover letter if you would be interested in this opportunity.

If submitting a graphic narrative, we accept up to a maximum of four pages, black and white, fiction or nonfiction. Please specify genre in your cover letter.

To learn more about what this year’s art team is interested in, visit “What We’re Looking For.”

SUBMIT