What we want  

The Ear is looking for paintings, drawings, collages, cartoons, illustrations, digital media pieces, and any other visual art that captures our attention and makes us imagine stories. Feel free to explore our website to learn more about the staff and our past selections.   We love it when you give us the opportunity to amplify the voices of people traditionally underrepresented in the publishing industry.   

What to include   

You may submit up to 5 individual images that are high resolution (300 DPI). Please reach out to us at theearcommunity@gmail.com if you have questions about how to do this. Your submission must be anonymous. 

There is no need for a bio or cover letter. We want to make decisions based on the work itself, so we'll contact you for more info as needed.   To keep the focus on the work, we ask that you do not put any identifying information anywhere on your submission, but if your work is signed, that's okay. 

Don't worry: Submittable knows who you are!   You are welcome to submit work to other genres during this reading period, but you may only submit once per genre per reading period. No AI-generated work is allowed.  

What kind of exclusivity we expect   

We want the freshest stuff: please share only previously unpublished work. A gallery website, personal blogs, or social media are okay, but we cannot acquire rights from official publications. We're a small volunteer staff. You might have to wait several months to hear back, so simultaneous submissions are okay. If one of your images is accepted for publication elsewhere, please withdraw it immediately using Submittable's "Messaging." Do not use the withdrawal function unless you would like to remove all of your work from our consideration.   

What happens after you submit   

Your work is always reviewed by multiple people who don't know anything about you. We often wait until we've considered every submission to make final decisions, so it may take a month or two beyond our close date before you hear back. Please be patient with us as we lavish everyone's work with the attention it deserves!  

• If your work is accepted, we'll reach out via Submittable to let you know. (Please be sure your notifications are on!)   We'll invite you to submit a bio, brief description, and more detailed contact information at that time. We will copy-edit any text you send, but we always have conversations with our contributors about any proposed changes.  Once your proofs are approved, your work will be published both in print and online.   
• We ask for first American serial rights, but all other rights revert back to the creator. Just give us a shoutout in future, and tell your friends how great we are!   Payment is two copies of the print journal, and our undying love and affection.  
• If your work is not accepted, don't be discouraged! Keep sending your work out, and try sending us something else in the future!   We regret that the volume of submissions and size of our staff means that we cannot send personalized feedback to each artist.

What we want

The Ear is looking for both black and white and color photographs that capture our attention and make us imagine stories. We're  particularly delighted by images that help us see a familiar world in surprising new ways. Feel free to explore our website to learn more about the staff and our past selections.

We love it when you give us the opportunity to amplify the voices of people traditionally underrepresented in the publishing industry.

What to include

• You may submit up to 5 individual images that are high resolution (300DPI). If you have any questions about how to get your images to this resolution, please email us at theearcommunity@gmail.com. 

There is no need for a bio or cover letter. We want to make decisions based on the work itself, so we'll contact you for more info as needed.

To keep the focus on the work, we ask that you do not put any identifying information anywhere on your submission. Don't worry: Submittable knows who you are!

You are welcome to submit work to other genres during this reading period, but you may only submit once per genre per reading period.

What kind of exclusivity we expect

We want the freshest stuff: please share only previously unpublished work. A gallery website, personal blogs, or social media are okay, but we cannot acquire rights from official publications. Additionally, The Ear does not accept A.I. generated work. 

We're a small volunteer staff. You might have to wait several months to hear back, so simultaneous submissions are okay. If one of your images is accepted for publication elsewhere, please withdraw it immediately using Submittable's "Messaging." Do not use the withdrawal function unless you would like to remove all of your work from our consideration.

What happens after you submit

Your work is always reviewed by multiple people who don't know anything about you. We often wait until we've considered every submission to make final decisions, so it may take a month or two beyond our close date before you hear back. Please be patient with us as we lavish everyone's work with the attention it deserves!

• If your work is accepted, we'll reach out via Submittable to let you know. (Please be sure your notifications are on!) We'll invite you to submit a bio, brief description, and more detailed contact information at that time. We will copy-edit any text you send, but we always have conversations with our contributors about any proposed changes.  Once your proofs are approved, your work will be published both in print and online.
• We ask for first American serial rights, but all other rights revert back to the creator. Just give us a shoutout in future, and tell your friends how great we are! Payment is two copies of the print journal, and our undying love and affection.
• If your work is not accepted, don't be discouraged! Keep sending your work out, and try sending us something else in the future! We regret that the volume of submissions and size of our staff means that we cannot send personalized feedback to each artist.