Submission Guidelines

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Submission Guidelines
Issue 20, Fall 2025

Vistas & Byways welcomes submissions in all genres (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, book reviews, interviews, etc.) on all topics and themes. We also have a separate section devoted to pieces on our special literary theme. We encourage you to submit material (up to three pieces) in any genre to either the special literary theme section (Time) and/or to other sections in the magazine (Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Inside OLLI).

We also welcome photographic submissions. We encourage you to submit photo essays (up to five photographs per essay) on this Issue's theme of (Places out of Time).

Special Note: Submissions for Vistas & Byways, Issue 20, Fall 2025 were accepted in August 2025.

Literary Submissions for
Issue 20, Fall 2025

Time (Special Literary Theme):
Roughly in keeping with V&B’s 10th anniversary (20 issues!) celebration, our literary theme this issue is Time. Write about time in any way you want, using any literary form you choose:
“Once upon a time . . .,” time travel, time heals all, and on and on.
(See complete Submission Guidelines below.)

Photographic Submissions for
Issue 20, Fall 2025

Photo Essays MUST be on the special photographic theme.

Places out of Time (Special Photographic Theme):
The places can be in the Bay Area or elsewhere. We don’t have time machines so can’t REALLY go back, but a photo essay with relevant narrative could be pretty interesting.
Create a photo essay of up to five photos, include a brief overall explanation or narrative describing how the scene (s) show (s) us places out of time, and provide a caption of a few words for each photo.
(See complete Submission Guidelines below.)

Banner and Accent Photos: These standalone photographs (no number limit) do NOT go through the Editorial Board or Visual Arts review process and do NOT appear in the Photographic Section, but may serve as background displays for literary works, with credit given.
(See complete Submission Guidelines below.)

Cover Contest: A photograph selected from the Special Photographic Theme Section OR Banner and Accent submissions will be chosen for display on the cover page of Vistas & Byways, with credit given.

Submissions for the Fall 2025 issue of Vistas & Byways were accepted during the month of August 2025. No submissions received after the August 31, 2025 deadline will be considered for publication.

General Guidelines
Issue 20, Fall 2025

Vistas & Byways invites members of the OLLI at SF State community to submit original written work for publication. All work received within a submission period will be reviewed by our Editorial Board and considered for publication in the next issue of the magazine. Decisions of the Board are final.

In order to submit to Vistas & Byways, you must be a current OLLI at SF State member. If we accept your submission (s), and your membership is not current, you will be informed of that by an OLLI at SF State staff member and asked to update it.

Prose and Poetry:
You can submit up to three pieces (in any genre or combination of genres).
Literary Word Limits:
Fiction: 6,000
Nonfiction (memoirs, essays and other works of nonfiction): 6,000
Poetry: No limit
Drama: 6,000
Excerpts from longer works of fiction or nonfiction: 6,000
100-Word Story: 100-word limit
Accompanying Illustrations: Up to four photographs, pieces of artwork or other illustrations may be submitted along with each literary submission to illustrate a written work. These illustrations MUST be original works by the author OR a specified other person, with that person's written permission.

Photography:
NOTE: There are TWO types of photographic submissions, one type limited to the special photographic theme, Places out of Time, the second type not limited to that theme:
1. Places out of Time: up to five photographs reviewed by the Visual Arts Editor and, if accepted, displayed in the Special Photographic Theme Section of the magazine. These photographs will also be considered for the cover.
2. Banner and Accent Photos: any number of photographs NOT subjected to our Editorial Board review process but may serve as background for literary works and may appear anywhere in the magazine, with credit given. These photographs will also be considered for the cover. These photos are NOT required to be on the photographic theme.

Cover Photo Contest:
The V&B staff will select the cover photo from photographs submitted to the Special Photographic Theme Section OR to Banner and Accent Photos.

Inside OLLI Reports:
We welcome material related to OLLI at SF State. This includes, but is not limited to: interviews with instructors or staff, reviews of published books by members, descriptions/reviews of events, creative projects or programs members are involved in. These reports are not reviewed by the Editorial Board and do not count as literary submissions.

Policy

Copyright Protection:
The contents of Vistas & Byways will NOT be submitted for copyright protection to the U.S. Copyright Office. Contributors who wish to secure copyright protection for their work (s) are responsible for filing for such copyright before submitting their work (s). Neither the Editorial Board nor Vistas & Byways assume any responsibility for loss or damages to individual authors for copyright infringement of literary or photographic work displayed in the magazine.

Changes to Literary Submissions: No changes will be permitted after material has been submitted, except as required to correct inadvertent minor errors.

Editorial Notes:
The Editorial Board of Vistas & Byways reserves the right to reject submissions which contain language it deems offensive; or to require the author to delete such language as a precondition of accepting a piece for publication.

Vistas & Byways is staffed solely by volunteers who are members of the OLLI at SF State program. Since staff members are also participants in writing and photography classes at OLLI at SF State, some of their own works may be included in Vistas & Byways.

Submission Procedures

Submissions for the Fall 2025 issue of Vistas & Byways were accepted during the month of August 2025. No submissions received after the August 31, 2025 deadline will be considered for publication.

Literary Submissions:
Literary submissions must be emailed as MS Word or rtf attachments (no other formats will be accepted).
Literary submissions should be single spaced with paragraphs flush left and a single empty line between each paragraph (no indents on first line of paragraph).
If you are submitting more than one piece, attach each one to the email SEPARATELY, not all in one file.
Indicate whether you wish your piece (s) to be submitted to our special theme section for this issue, Time.
NOTE: No changes will be permitted after material has been submitted, except as required to correct inadvertent minor errors.
(See description above.)

Accompanying Illustrations: Up to four photographs, pieces of artwork or other illustrations may be submitted along with each literary submission to illustrate a written work. These illustrations MUST be original works by the author OR a specified relative or friend. Accompanying illustrations must be in jpg or png format. List any captions you want included—captions are not required.
NOTE: Illustrations will be evaluated separately from literary pieces and may not be accepted, even if the literary piece is.

Photographic Submissions (To Be Displayed in the Special Photographic Theme Section):
Original photographs must be submitted in jpg or png format.
Photographs must be on the special photographic theme: Places out of Time.
A brief overall explanation or narrative thread is required for each photo essay (no more than five photographs per photo essay).
A caption of a few words is required for each photograph.
NOTE: Permission must be obtained from any person whose face is shown in a photograph.

Banner and Accent Photos (To Be Displayed as Background Photos Anywhere in the Magazine):
Original stand-alone photographs (no number limit) must be submitted in jpg or png format.
A caption of a few words IS required for each stand-alone photograph. These stand-alone photographs should NOT include an overall explanation or narrative thread. These photos are NOT required to be on the photographic theme.
NOTE: Permission must be obtained from any person whose face is shown in a photograph.

If you are a first-time contributor, please include all of the following information:
Name and pen name, if different
Email address
Phone number
Short bio (120-word maximum)
Recent photograph of yourself (jpg or png)
The literary genre (e.g., short story, poetry, memoir, essay, book review) of all literary submissions and the medium (e.g., photography, acrylic, watercolor, charcoal) of all accompanying illustration submissions.

If you are a repeat contributor, please make sure your contact information is up to date. Also, review your bio and picture in the Contributors and Works Page of Issue 19 (or the last issue your work appeared in) to see if they are up to date. If not, please submit updated versions.

Submissions and all other information should be emailed to:
[email protected]

NOTE: Vistas & Byways accepts simultaneous submissions and previously published works as long as you inform us.

If your piece or pieces are accepted, you will be informed by email. In that acceptance email, there will be a link to the following certification statement:

“I certify that this is an original piece of literary work, photography and/or artwork created by me, and that Artificial Intelligence (AI) was not used in any way in my work. I grant the Editorial Board of Vistas & Byways permission to publish my work and agree that I will receive no payment. I accept corrections by the Editorial Board of typos, misspellings and grammatical errors without consultation with me. I certify that if the Editorial Board made substantive changes, the changes were implemented by mutual agreement. I understand that my work will be published in the upcoming issue.”

Questions: email to [email protected] or use our online contact form.