The Cypress Dome Literary Magazine

We are the University of Central Florida’s undergraduate literary magazine, running since 1989. Our hope is to craft a rich, creative environment at UCF through the celebration of diverse, innovative writing. Send us your break-up poems, mind-bending fiction, childhood tales, or even your screenplay from two summers back.

The Cypress Dome is open to all UCF students, both undergraduate and graduate, enrolled full- or part-time, during any semester of the 2023–2024 academic year.

We take creative work of any kind, but we’re especially excited about writing and art that blends genres and offers a fresh perspective.

You can submit to The Cypress Dome during Open Submission (November 15–December 31).

We accept up to two submissions per person.

Early Bird Pre-Submission Feedback

We’re happy to offer brief personalized feedback to the first 20 writers between the dates of October 15, 2023 and October 30, 2023. This pre-submission period does not count toward a submission for The Cypress Dome’s next issue. If you would like your piece to be considered for publication, you will need to re-submit your work during our Open Submissions period, which runs from November 15 to December 31, 2023.

Open Submission

November 15–December 31, 2023

Submission Categories (ONE submission equals):

Fiction — Our fiction team is eager to read unique work that pushes boundaries of traditional genre and form. We accept short stories up to 6,000 words. Please make all submissions in double-spaced 12 pt. Times New Roman.

Nonfiction — Our creative nonfiction editors love writing that is immersive, heartfelt, and thought-provoking. We accept up to 6,000 words of writing including, but not limited to genres such as: memoir, personal essays, literary journalism, lyric essays, visual essays, and hybrid or experimental works. Please make all submissions in double-spaced 12 pt. Times New Roman.

Poetry — The poetry team at The Cypress Dome hopes to publish work that is emotive and vulnerable. We accept a maximum of 3 poems submitted together in a single document, with each poem clearly separated. Please submit poems of any form in the layout and order intended for publication.

Other Categories:

Flash Fiction/Nonfiction – Maximum of 750 words each; no more than 3 pieces; fiction or nonfiction (please specify genre in your Cover Letter)

Scripts & Plays – Maximum of 12 pages; single act only, adheres to all standard script formatting practices

Graphic Narrative – Maximum of 12 pages; black and white; fiction or nonfiction (please specify genre in your Cover Letter)

Visual Art – Maximum of 5 pieces of artwork, including but not limited to: drawings, paintings, photography, digital art, and sculptures; genre noted in Cover Letter; minimum 300 DPI

Final decisions on all work regardless of submission period will be made in the Spring when all submissions have been reviewed. Responses are usually sent by the beginning of April.

Submission Format

If you are making two submissions of two separate genres, please specify that on your Cover Letter. The same Cover Letter should be submitted with each piece.

Remove your name from all submitted work. Please check headers and footers.

Include page numbers on all multi-page work.

For all text-based work, please submit a DOC or DOCX file. You may submit a PDF file ONLY to retain non-standard formatting if applicable.

Cover Letter

Copy and paste your Cover Letter into the box on the Submission Page.

Include:

• your first and last name
• your address
• your phone number
• your UCF email address
• your personal email address (optional)
• academic status (graduate or undergraduate)
• the title(s) of submissions
• submission category
• content warnings (death, sexual trauma, violence, mental-health trauma, etc)
• number of words/lines per submission (if written)
• medium of the work (if visual art)

Multiple Submissions

TWO submissions are allowed per period.

If you are making multiple submissions to the same genre, please upload all files per submission period to the same submission form.

If you submit multiple pieces across different genres, please upload the submission forms separately according to its genre.

All titles of individual work should be in the Cover Letter.

How Do I Know My Work Was Received?

When your submission is received, Submittable will reply with an email. Please check your spam filters and the email you used to sign in to Submittable. If you do not receive an email (especially if you are submitting near the end of Open Submission), please email cdome@ucf.edu to make sure your submission was received.

All work will be reviewed by the editors, evaluated according to artistic merit, and then accepted or denied. Authors selected for publication will be asked to present an electronic copy of their work in Microsoft Word if not already supplied. Be patient while awaiting our response; final responses are usually sent by the beginning of April.

Awards

Awards are given for the strongest submissions in each category. The Cypress Dome editors will select the winning entries. A celebratory reading will be held upon the release of the magazine in late April 2024.

Questions?

For more information please contact us at cdome@ucf.edu. Editors will be available to answer any questions in person by appointment. Please understand that we cannot discuss any of your pieces during the submission process, nor can we accept any cash, food, or small animals as gifts—your submissions are the only form of bribe we need.

Good luck, and submit away!