Bridgewater, VA – The Philomathean is a literary and artistic magazine that Bridgewater College publishes every year. Submissions can be emailed in through the end of October and are open for everyone.
The editing staff for the Philomathean this year consists of 21 Bridgewater College students, including myself, and Dr. Sam Hamilton. The role of the staff is to put together the magazine and work with students to put forth their best work.
This year, the Philomathean staff is working on how to reach the maximum number of students. In addition, they have been brainstorming methods to increase submissions.
The Philomathean primarily sees submissions from Art, Writing and English majors; however any student, faculty or alumni is welcome to submit. In fact, anybody can send in their work, even if they have no direct relation to the college.
It is important to the staff to see a diverse group of people represented in the magazine. The Philomathean is meant to be representative of the body of Bridgewater College. The staff highly encourages anybody and everybody to submit because it is a good creative outlet.
The types of work that can be submitted include any written or visual art piece. The most common submissions are poetry, short stories, photography and paintings; however, this is not an exhaustive list of what can be submitted. Music, plays, short films, essays and digital art are also accepted.
The Philomathean chooses a theme each year that submissions should follow. The theme chosen for this year is Secrets.
The theme for the Philomathean is meant to serve as inspiration for whatever work one wants to submit. The word “secrets” might inspire someone to reflect on parts of their own personal life that they have kept unseen. Whereas to someone else, “secrets” might inspire someone to think about a hidden treasure they know about.
The motif of the magazine is broad so that it is up to interpretation. There is a lot of creative freedom, while still allowing students to have some guidelines for their work to follow. Many artists might have work that already adheres to the theme; however, it might inspire many to create new pieces that they wouldn’t have otherwise made.
Last year’s theme was “Where Our Dreams Take Us.” People interpreted the theme in different ways: actual dreams, day dreams and aspirations, to name a few.
The biggest publication category last year was poetry, with 21 pieces in the final product. Among the pieces, there was a lot of variation in theme. There were poems defining what a dream was to the poet. There were poems describing dreams and nightmares the poet experienced. As well, there were poems about the ambitions of the poet.
Submissions opened Aug. 31 and will stay open until Oct. 25. Anyone interested in submitting can refer to the announcement on MyBC or contact [email protected] with any questions.
