Dear Readers,

And just like that, another year comes to a close. The Sunlight Press will begin its 4th year in January and we have much to cheer as 2019 draws to a close.

This year we completed our first full year as a nonprofit literary journal and with the help of generous donors, have raised more than $2,100 in donations. All donations will fund 2020 honorariums for writers and artists published on our site. Thanks to all who have supported The Sunlight Press. We are deeply grateful for your contribution.

In the spirit of your generosity, we are stepping forward today with a $500 matching gift to continue valuing artists and writers’ work. We firmly believe every artist should be paid and have committed to this mission from our inception in 2017. Every gift will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $500, between now and December 31. If you considered donating but haven’t yet, here’s a fantastic opportunity and we’d love your support.

Over the last year, we offered two opportunities for artists to earn cash awards – our spring Essay Contest and our fall Photography Contest. We nominated work for Best of the Net awards and today are thrilled to announce our nominations for Pushcart Prizes:

Dear Maddy – Essay by Jacqueline Doyle
Memorial of Imaginary Lines – Fiction by Sabrina Hicks
The Suns of Orchard Street – Fiction by David Mohan
Here – Poetry by Shannon Lise
Portrait of a Lady – Poetry by Karen Mandell
A Simple Poem for Ahmed Al-Jamili – Poetry by C.C. Russell

On that note, would you like to sponsor a writing or photography contest in 2020? Each year we offer at least two contests. Sponsoring a contest means you could suggest a topic and name the contest. We’d love your ideas and your sponsorship. We’re also happy to answer any questions at thesunlightpress@gmail.com. We would match your contribution to pay the winning writer or artist.

We’d also like to encourage writers to submit Artist on Craft pieces and book reviews. Please see our Submit page for more details on both and scroll through our site to read previously published pieces.

Finally, we would like to thank our volunteer staff for their continued work and support; this journal would not be possible without them:  Clive Collins, our Poetry Editor; three volunteer readers, Susan Pohlman, Elizabeth Spencer (currently on leave from book review writing), Emily Sorensen, and Windy Lynn Harris; Eric Sorensen, artist and photographer; Fabrice Poussin, photographer; and Molly Engel, photographer.

We wish all of our readers a peaceful holiday season. Thank you for your support of The Sunlight Press and cheers to a happy and healthy new year. We are closed to all submissions from December 16, 2019 to January 6, 2020.

We will return on Monday, Jan. 6. See you in 2020.

Happy Holidays to all,

Rudri Bhatt Patel  and Beth Burrell
Founders and Editors of The Sunlight Press