Every year, students enroll in a capstone course in the English department compile Inscape Magazine; a literary journal featuring poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction and visual art from the region and beyond.

Washburn University undergraduate students founded Inscape Magazine in 1972. It began as a literary publication for students and the surrounding Topeka community but has now merged with the academic curriculum for English majors with a creative writing emphasis, at Washburn.

The editorial process of the magazine takes place in EN384: Publishing Lab, the capstone course for English majors with a creative-writing emphasis.

“It is completely run by students, who make all the decisions about everything from submission process, to content, to design,” said faculty advisor and writer-in-residence, Tom Averill. “It offers students a complete taste of what it’s like to have a literary magazine.”

The annual submissions period is Aug. 1 to late October. The deadline for the 2013 Inscape Magazine is Wednesday, Oct. 24. The 2013 issue will be published in the spring semester with a release party in April of 2014. There is no entry fee and individuals may submit one fiction piece, one nonfiction piece and up to five poems.

According to senior English major, Elise Barnett, the review process is blind. Meaning that the names of the authors do not appear on the work that is submitted until it has been accepted for the magazine. All submissions to Inscape are considered for the Inscape Magazine Award, given to one fiction, one nonfiction, one poetry and one art contributor from each issue.

Averill says that in the past several years, Inscape has gone from a journal of Washburn students and the Topeka community writing to an international journal of very high quality. Submissions can be made at the Inscape Magazine website, inscapemagazine.org.

“Inscape is a small magazine with a lot of heart,” said Barnett. “This year’s staff is really dedicated to creating something unique and inspiring, something that branches away from what people think of as ‘typical Midwest.'”