Call for Submissions
Filth
noun
offensive or disgusting dirt or refuse; foul matter.
foul condition.
moral impurity, corruption, or obscenity.
vulgar or obscene language or thought.
As a kid, you don’t think of the dirt. Fingers grubby from searching for creepy crawlies in the soil. Paint smeared across yourself, scabs on your knees, shouting obscenities without knowing their meaning. Overtime, the dirt becomes impossible to ignore — you’re taught to value cleanliness. Still, the filth coats your skin, stains your conscience, leaves behind grime and a bad taste.
What drew your attention to the filth?
Tell us what’s under your fingernails, molding in your kitchen sink, curdling in the back of your mind.
What is filth to you?
What does it mean to be filthy?
How do you rid yourself of it all?
Do you?
We ask for a $5 fee per each submission. We are a volunteer-run nonprofit, so small submission fees allow us to continue offering payment to artists and help support our organization. If you are unable to make this payment, please simply fill out the form below to say hello and tell us what’s up. We strive to always make art accessible while being sustainable as a small organization, and understand (very intimately) how difficult it can be to sustain your work as an artist. We will never turn you away for lack of funds.
$5 Submission fee.
Visual art is excluded from this fee requirement.
Payments can be made via Venmo: @Staind_Arts or PayPal
Submissions should be sent as individual attachments (JPEG or Word Document, please no PDFs) with an artist statement as a separate attachment. Each submission should be in a separate document. Send to staindartscontact@gmail.com with the subject line “Filth Submission”. Please format your attachments to read: Title of work—Filth. In the body of the email please include the title of the piece, your name and the materials and dimensions for visual work. Do not put your name in the content or title of your attachments.
Please be thorough in checking your work for spelling and grammatical errors, including em dashes (not hyphens), punctuation, etc.
Image resolution should be 300 ppi.
Please limit visual art to 10 pieces per submission.
Please limit poetry to 5 poems per submission.
Please limit prose to 2 works per submission. Prose pieces should not exceed 2,000 words.
You may submit once in each category for this publication. Submissions should be completed separately for separate categories.
We want to publish you! We may reach out to you with edits to make your piece ready for print.
Pieces printed in this issue will receive a small honorarium for publishing.
All submissions received during the reading period will be read. The response time will vary according to the number of submissions.
The submission deadline is September 15.
We expect Filth to be published in 2025.
<3
Form to Waive Submission Fee:
-//-