Submissions

Submissions for Issue XIII (Spring 2025) are OPEN! Submit by 3/14/25 (or 4/18/25 if you are a freshman submitting poetry)

Click HERE for the Submission Form 

How to Submit

All current Los Gatos High School students are welcome to submit work to The Wildcat Review for publication consideration. You can submit via our Google Form above.

If you’d like to submit anonymously, our editorial staff will still be able to see your email, but it will not be shared outside of the club.

Submission Rules

Poetry, short fiction, and personal essays should be submitted as .docx files. Please submit no more than 3 poems per semester, 2 short fiction pieces per semester (max. 2,000 words), and/or 2 creative nonfiction pieces per semester (max. 1,500 words). The Editorial Board reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar, spelling, and other errors.

Art and photography should be uploaded as high resolution jpg files. Please submit no more than 3 art pieces per semester and/or 5 photos per semester. Do not submit original copies — we don’t return physical submissions.

By submitting work for consideration, you represent that the work is your original authorship.

We accept simultaneous and/or previously published submissions. In these cases, it is the submitter’s responsibility to attain the consent of the publications and competitions where their work has already been published or recognized.

You are welcome to submit pieces of different genres at the same time. Select pieces from each issue are posted on the website after the release of the issue to recognize highly commendable work.

Members of the Editorial Board are also welcome to submit, and will be held to the same blind adjudication standards.

The Evaluation Process

All submissions are evaluated by the Editorial Board, which meets regularly as a club at LGHS. Throughout the year, aspiring editorial candidates can send a sample of their own creative work to the club leaders. The samples are examined by the club president, vice president, and Ms. McQuade, who then accept or reject editors and place them in their genres accordingly.

We judge submissions based on two key factors: skill and uniqueness. Ideally, we publish work that represents a variety of the student body and the special pockets of life, so even though we might get three skillfully rendered poems about heartbreak, if they’re very similar we will pick and choose between them. Conversely, we don’t want to publish work that may be unique but is sloppily executed. Please consider these factors as you send in your submissions.

It’s important to note that the opinions of the Editorial Board are not end-all be-all. Creative work is so difficult to evaluate — perhaps the most difficult of all — because it is so subjective. Just because a work is not selected for the print issue does not mean it is not valuable. It is simply a nudge for consideration about possible different directions to take, possible room for improvement, and possible new ideas to let stew in your brain.