Progenitor Art & Literary Journal is a national-award-winning collegiate publication that is a cornerstone of Arapahoe Community College's art and literary life. We are located in Littleton, Colorado.
UPDATE: The deadline for submissions for the following categories has been extended until Friday, February 20th at midnight in hopes of getting higher submission numbers in these genres:
-Art & Photography
-Creative Nonfiction
-Illustrated Story / 3-Panel comic / Political Cartoon
SUBMISSIONS FOR PROGENITOR 2026, v.61, ARE NOW OPEN (FEB. 3-15, 2026).
Progenitor Art and Literary Journal, published annually, is the work of three Spring semester courses in which students at our college enroll:
ENG 2031, Literary Magazine
JOU 2015, Publications Production and Design
MGD 2080, Multimedia and Graphic Design Studio
Our submission window is necessarily brief, and usually within the approximate first couple of weeks of February.
Specific guidelines for each genre are detailed in the category submission area.
Thank you to all of our submitters! We truly look forward to reading your best, and are honored to have the opportunity to do so.
Our staff is working hard to curate and design the next high-quality edition of the Progenitor Art and Literary Journal !
Our annual "Release Celebration and Reading" is scheduled to be held on Thursday, May 7th, 2026 beginning at 5:30pm in the Colorado Gallery of the Arts, and open to all. Attendees receive a free copy of the new book.
Local artists and writers whose works are chosen for publication, aka "Contributors," will be invited to read from their written work or to present their art in person at the event. Contributors in attendance will receive three contributor copies of the new book, and if you can't make the event, we'll mail those. Our ability to mail contributor copies is now limited to "within the US" due increased shipping rates.*
However, we welcome submissions from all over the world. If outside the US, please see the below restrictions in shipping contributor copies.
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The Progenitor Art & Literary Journal
Each year, our publication sources the best of the best through a blind reading and committee approach. Student status does not influence our selection; indeed, we publish works from amateur and professional writers and artists from all over the world annually. Yet, we highly encourage students at Arapahoe Community College, and within the Colorado Community College System (CCCS), and of all the colleges and universities in Colorado to submit.
We are honored to accept submissions from our students, the wider communities around Colorado, and all around the globe for our Art & Literary Journal in the genres of Poetry, Short Story (fiction), Flash Fiction, Creative Nonfiction (CNF), Flash Memoir, 10-Minute Plays (drama), Art (all genres considered, e.g. woodworking, paintings, ceramics, digital art not produced by AI, and so on) and Photography, and Illustrated (graphic) Stories and Comics.
The students who serve on the Progenitor staff work to publish the best of the works they are presented with. Their hard work results in the journal published online and in print at the end of the Spring semester. A collaborative effort takes place between our contributors and the editors, who are united in their mission to share stories across mediums—written and visual.
Previously, volume 57 (2022) was awarded an "Honorable Mention" for Best Literary Magazine by the prestigious Pinnacle Awards given by the College Media Association, a national organization widely recognized as the best. We tied for fourth, and appeared to be the only two-year college placing in this national competition! You can still explore our work on this volume below.
You can also check out our beautiful site which flaunts the excellence of our 2019 edition, as well as the website from our 2020 edition.
Here's the website for our most recent edition: volume 60, the diamond anniversary, created by Ena Boyd.
The Progenitor Art & Literary Journal has been published each Spring semester at ACC for the past 60 years (including during the onset of the pandemic in Spring of 2020). Our journal publishes the best submissions it receives from ACC students and community members, near and far. Find out more about the Progenitor at our Progenitor Art & Literary Journal website.
Email progenitor@arapahoe.edu with any questions you may have.
For the 61st edition, Progenitor is accepting submissions from February 3rd to the 16th, 2026 at midnight, Mountain Standard Time (MST).
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*International Community: We are disappointed to announce that due to exorbitant shipping costs, we are no longer able to ship "contributor copies" outside of the US. We will still accept your submissions, and we are happy to publish the ones that our staff chooses through our blind review process, but we cannot send you copies of the book.
We will, however, email you the pdf of the finished product, and you can, if you wish, pay to have books shipped to you. Also, if there are funds unexpectedly remaining, we will attempt to ship you a couple of copies--in short, we will do our best.
Our sincere apologies for this policy change put into place in 2025.
~Jamey Trotter
Faculty Advisor
CNF Please submit your creative nonfiction work here! All work must be original and previously unpublished, and without use of any AI assistance whatsoever.
Note: This is blind submission; please do not put your name on the manuscript or even in the file name.
You may make one submission to Creative Nonfiction, and include up to TWO works in that submission, as separate file uploads. Each sub should not exceed 2,500 words.
We also dig "flash memoir," true stories that are 1,000 words or fewer.
We consider all sub-genres that fall under the CNF genre and that follow the genre expectations of nonfiction i.e. fact-based work and stories based on true events, including but not limited to literary journalism, travel writing, memoir, personal essay, and so on. Our Design team will strive to honor the appearance of footnotes etc. if your piece utilizes this sort of device.
The word count limit: 2,500 words max for all prose. We love all story lengths! Send us your flash, your micro, and your longer true stories.
Bonus CNF submission!: As a way to encourage "short-flash CNF," you are permitted to include one extra piece (bonus!) if it is 500 words or fewer for a total of three pieces in your one submission.
Your name must not appear on the manuscript or as part of the manuscript file name.
Before you submit, you'll be asked to complete a form, where we ask for your: submission title (give titles of each piece)/ name/ email address/ mailing address/ and a 25 word author bio.
In the author bio, we're just looking to share a little something about you if we publish your work. Our list of contributors is lengthy but we like to put your name and bio in our book--thus, the 25-word limit.
Following the bio, if you have an author site you'd like to share, cut-n-paste it there. We will try to include the link in the online version of our book site.
Also, please include a telephone number by which we can reach you!
Then, you'll upload your story file(s).
Once all is in order, to submit, click the Submit button. We do not charge fees for submissions.
Please remember to proofread your work carefully before submitting.
We will notify you through the Submittable system whether your work has been accepted or declined, within 3-6 weeks after the submission period has ended. Sorry, but our timeline does not allow us the opportunity to provide feedback on submissions.
Submissions open Feb 3rd, 2026, and will close on the deadline of Sunday, Feb 15th, at midnight (MST), 2026.
Text Requirements: 12 pt font, Times New Roman; single (or multiple) spaced.
Please include a title on all submissions. Save as a .doc/ .docx/ or .rtf file.
Thank you to all of our submitters! We truly look forward to reading your best, and are honored to have the opportunity to do so. Our staff is working hard to curate the next high-quality edition of the Progenitor Art and Literary Journal !
UPDATE: The Art & Photography submissions category has been extended to Friday, Feb. 20th, 2026 at midnight (MST); we hope you consider submitting!
NOTE: THIS IS A BLIND SUBMISSION. PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE DIGITAL FILE(S).
Please submit your Art and Photography work here!
All work must be original and previously unpublished, and without use of any AI assistance whatsoever.
We welcome all forms of art, including paintings, any medium on canvas, digital art created by a human and without AI enhancement, photography, jewelry, ceramics, woodworking, sculpture, and so on.
Photos of art must be of one's own art (rather than, say, a photo of a piece of public art not one's own).
We also err on the side of caution when it comes to copyright infringement, so we can't consider, say, your own rendition of Mickey Mouse.
You may make one submission to Art & Photography, and upload up to three different files for that submission--technical parameters below. Your name must not appear on the work (exceptions granted to works in which the artist's name is a part of the work, e.g. a painting.)
Before you submit, you'll be asked to complete a form, where we ask for your: submission title (give titles of each of the pieces)/ name/ email address/ mailing address/ and a 25 word artist bio.
In the artist bio, we're just looking to share a little something about you if we publish your work. Our list of contributors is lengthy but we like to put your name and bio in our book--thus the 25-word limit.
Following the bio, if you have an artist site you'd like to share, cut-n-paste it there. We will try to include the link in the online version of our book site.
Also, after the bio, please tell us about the medium(s) used to create the art, which we may or may not include in print on the page the art appears on (this is a design decision that is made later in the process).
Then, you'll upload your (up to) three files for the Art & Photography section, which should be saved under their title
Also, please include a telephone number by which we can reach you!
Then, you'll upload your digital files.
To submit, click the Submit button. We do not charge fees for submissions.
Please, title each piece.
Submission deadline of Sunday, Feb 16th 2025 at midnight.
Please follow these Visual Art Requirements carefully: Photos of all works must be 8 megapixels or higher for art work, photography, photos of ceramics and jewelry etc. If your work is selected, you may be asked to provide a new file with the appropriate production values if you miss them on the first try.
If you have an illustrated story you'd like to submit (graphic novel/ comic/etc.), we have that as its own category!
Thank you to all of our submitters! We truly look forward to reading your best, and are honored to have the opportunity to do so. Our staff is working hard to curate the next high-quality edition of the Progenitor Art and Literary Journal !
NOTE: THIS IS A BLIND SUBMISSION. PLEASE NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE FILE or SUBMISSION ITSELF (exception if it's already-imbedded).
Illustrated Story / Comic / Political Cartoon category is for works that have both a narrative and a drawing/ graphic art element. We will also consider single-panel or multiple-panel comics.
Please submit your Illustrated Story / Comic work here. Your work must be original and unpublished, and without use of any AI assistance whatsoever.
You may make one submission to this genre, and upload up to three files for that submission; in other words, we will consider a max of three different illustrated stories / comics / political cartoon per submitter.
Please title each submission file.
For the purpose of a "blind review" process, we ask that you not include your name on the work itself nor the file name. An exception would be if the artist name is embedded in the work itself and not easily extracted.
Before you submit, you'll be asked to complete a form, where we ask for your: submission title (give title of each story/comic submission)/ name/ email address/ mailing address/ and a 25 word author bio.
In the author-artist bio, we're just looking to share a little something about you if we publish your work. Our list of contributors is lengthy but we like to put your name and bio in our book--thus the 25-word limit.
Following the bio, if you have an author/artist site you'd like to share, cut-n-paste it there. We will try to include the link in the online version of our book site.
Also, please include a telephone number by which we can reach you!
Then, you'll upload your (up to) three illustrated story/comic files--please save each file by the title of the piece. Please remember to proofread your work carefully before submitting. We will notify you through the Submittable system whether your work has been accepted or declined, within 3-6 weeks after the submission period has ended.
Submission deadline: Sunday, Feb 15th, at midnight (MST), 2026. Thank you to all of our submitters! We truly look forward to reading your best, and are honored to have the opportunity to do so. Our staff is working hard to curate the next high-quality edition of the Progenitor Art and Literary Journal !