Dear readers,

Every year March rolls around and we’re not quite sure how. We welcome spring and before we know it, summer. This year we reopened to all submissions in early January and shortly after, closed to both fiction and poetry. We’d been slammed. Fortunately, we have some new readers on board and we hope to reopen to fiction and poetry soon. Stay tuned to our website Submit page and to social media.

Speaking of spring, we’ll announce details over the next few weeks about our spring writing contest. We’re planning on a flash fiction contest this year (stories under 1,000 words). Last year we held a photography contest; in 2023, a flash fiction contest; and in 2022, an essay contest. We’ll likely cap the number of submissions and the period for submitting. Again, stay tuned for an announcement soon. (You can read about previous contests on our Contests page.)

In other news, 2025 marks our ninth year in business. Next year — 2026 — we’ll celebrate our 10th year! We’ve been a nonprofit journal since 2018 which means anyone who donates gets a tax deduction, and we appreciate any and all support. In case you’re new around here, all the money we raise goes directly to one thing: payments to the artists we publish. We’re so thrilled to financially support artists and their work. It’s an honor they share their work with us and a joy to pay them for it. If you’re interested in helping us fund these honorariums, by all means visit our Support page for details. Options are PayPal, credit card, and a check payable to The Sunlight Press, PO Box 161, Merion Station, PA 19066. Questions? Ask us at thesunlightpress@gmail.com. We are grateful for your support.

We are happy to announce that The Sunlight Press applied and was approved to become a member of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) in January. Check out our profile on CLMP and read more about their support of small, independent publishers and publications since 1967.

Moving on, below is our annual look back at numbers from the previous year. (If there’s a number you’d like us to share, please ask!)

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By the Numbers for 2024

Regular submissions: 837
Total acceptances: 128
Spring contest submissions (photography): 40
Contest results: One winner Graham Tobin and two finalists Viviana De Cecco and Kat Mincz

Website views:  55,320
Our total web views since 2017 launch: 442,430 (we hit 400k in fall 2024!)

New pay rates (as of June 2024):
$50 for prose pieces (fiction, essays, and book/film reviews)
$35 for a single poem; $10 per additional poem in same submission
$20 for photographs
$100 cash and up for contest winners

Total Paid to Writers/Photographers:
Regular submissions: $5,610
Contest (photography) cash prizes: $300 to winner plus $100 to each of two finalists
*Total paid out: $6,110

Donations to The Sunlight Press: $1,547
Donations from founders: $1,500
*Total donated: $3,047

(*We’ve operated at a deficit the past two years but fortunately have saved donation money from previous years to cover payments to artists.)

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That’s it for March news. If you write for us, read for us, visit us, or donate to us, we thank you. Without you all, Sunlight wouldn’t be here.

Happy spring!

Beth & Rudri
Founders and Editors