Dear Readers,
We have lots of fun things ahead as spring arrives and our seventh year continues. Coming soon is our fourth flash fiction contest — stay tuned for details soon. And in early April, a special feature with our two poetry readers sharing thoughts on the art of writing poetry. What makes a poem a poem? What resources are out there for new and lifelong poets? Look for this feature shortly after National Poetry Month opens April 1.
We will share more soon about the upcoming flash fiction contest on our website and social media. There, we will announce the submission window for the contest, the cash prize, and other details. Stay tuned.
In case you missed it, The Sunlight Press is excited to share that Despy Boutris’s poem, June Morning with Thoughts on Mortality, was a 2023 Best of Net finalist. Find a complete list of 2023 Best of Net finalists here. We were also pleased to learn that The Sunlight Press is now listed in Brecht’s Top 1000 Lit Magazines (as of January 2023).
And finally, we’d like to thank all donors who helped to match our end-of-year $500 gift. We were delighted to close 2022 on a happy note! Thank you, all. Every dollar funds honorariums for artists, and all are tax-deductible. If you’re ever curious to learn more about us as a nonprofit journal, visit Candid.org where donors can search any registered nonprofit and learn about their leadership, mission, and finances. (Type Sunlight Press, without “The” in the search field to find us). To donate to The Sunlight Press, please visit our Support page.
As we do every March, we compiled some numbers — this time about 2022.
By the Numbers
Regular submissions: 766
Total acceptances: 107
Spring essay contest submissions: 146
Essay contest acceptances: 18 (including one winner, two finalists)
Cash prize for winner: $500
Website views: 53,821 (highest number in September)
Total web views since 2017 launch: 311,786
Staff: Eleven volunteers, including us
New pay rates (as of July 2022):
$40 for prose pieces (fiction, essays, and book/film reviews)
$30 for a single poem; $10 per additional poem in same submission
$15 for photographs
$100 and up for contest winners
Ads on our site: 0
Cost to read: $0
As always, we thank our volunteer staff for helping us get The Sunlight Press out the door every week. If interested in joining our staff as a volunteer reader, we can always use the help. You can take on as much or as little as you like. Shoot us an email at thesunlightpress@gmail.com if interested. We’d love to hear from you.
Please note: We will be closed to all submissions during July and August this year while we catch up on reviewing work. This will enable us to contact writers more quickly after they submit. We will reopen to all submissions on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
Until next time, get outdoors. Spring is coming!
Warmly,
Beth Burrell & Rudri Patel
Founders and Editors
