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THE FOUNDING ISSUE
We’re excited to announce that the Heron is now accepting submissions for the publication’s inaugural edition. We have many spaces across the issues various categories. You may choose to submit for as many categories as you wish, however you may only submit for each category once.
Cover and feature winners are decided by the issue’s lead editors - every entry will automatically be in the running for placement on the cover.
There is no theme for this issue however writing from unique voices is always sought after. You may submit experimental poetry and we will strive to the best of our abilities to preserve any creative expression in the submitted pieces. One of the poetry categories is themed, and entrants may choose to engage with it directly or non-directly. The chosen theme for this issue is “Spring”.
You may submit work that has been published in other publications, however, we urge applicants to only submit pieces they have written between June - October 2026.
Applicants from the Australian diaspora (regardless of age or nationality) will receive preference.
There is no submission fee, and access to the issue will be free upon release.
Submit by October 31 2026 to be up for consideration in this milestone issue.
HOW TO ENTER
Pressing the submit button at the top of the page will take you to an online form where you may select which category you’re entering and input your personal details.
Only submissions that correctly follow the guidelines will be considered.
You may also send through your application through email, if you wish. Email theeveningheron@gmail.com with “Issue 1 - [Name] - [Category]” as the subject line. Note that if you wish to submit for multiple categories you will need to send multiple emails.
Please include the following information in the body of your email if you are sending poetry, fiction, or a recently released poetry collection. For the other categories, click through below for more information.
CATEGORY - COLLECTION REVIEWS
The Heron will be publishing 5 reviews of poetry collections that have released within the past 3 months (June - October 2026). Whilst some of these will be written by staff members, we invite participants to send through their own reviews for consideration.
Please include the following in the body of your email if you are submitting a review.
- Name (what you wish to be printed)
- Short introduction (less than 100 words)
- Title of the collection in review
- Word count (up to 1,500 words)
- Was generative AI used in the writing or editing of the work you are submitting?: Yes/No (if the answer is no, please do not submit)
- Do you confirm that you have read the terms and guidelines at the bottom of this page?: Yes/No (If the answer is no, please do not submit.)
- Your submission as an attachment titled “Issue 1 - Collection Review - [Name]”
- If you are submitting more than 1 poem, combine them all in the same file
- Submissions must be in the form of a pdf, docx, or any other editable text format. Refrain from sending images, unless your work is considered experimental.
TERMS AND GUIDELINES
- Submission is free of charge.
- Works completed within the 3 months prior to the submission deadline are strongly encouraged.
- All entries must be received by 11:59PM AEST on October 31 2026.
- Entrants may only submit once per category and may not be edited after submission
- We reserve the right to change the amount of pieces that will be in the final issue, consider the placements as an estimate.
- The Evening Heron staff will have final say of which works are included in the issue. Decisions are final and cannot be altered once an issue is considered ‘printed’.
- There is a baseline $10 AUD honorarium for work that is published in the issue. This amount may increase depending on the donations made in the issue’s submission period.
- All entries must either use the provided email template or complete the online form. You must follow the appropriate template depending on the category you are submitting for.
- All work must be the entrant’s original work. Any work that is found to be plagiarised will be removed from the issue and archives.
- Generative AI must not have been used in the creation of the submitted works. This includes but is not limited to: generating work from a prompt and editing work using AI.
- All work must be primarily written in English, though may include other languages.
- You may submit work that has been published in other publications and journals.
- Successful entrants will be contacted some time following the submission period deadline.
- Submissions must be in the form of a pdf, docx, or any other editable text format. Refrain from sending images, unless your work is considered experimental.
- If submitting more than one poem, please combine them in a single file. Entrants may not submit more than 5 poems.