Submissions

Hello! Firstly, thank you very much for considering Paper Lanterns for your work. 

Submissions for Issue 15 are now closed!

There are four categories we invite you to submit to:

  • Creative writing (short stories, poetry, flash fiction)
  • Features (non fiction/essays/opinion pieces)
  • Art (including photography, mixed media, etc.)
  • Book reviews (Submissions for book reviews are open year-round).

We can offer the below fees for submitting:

This is payable via PayPal, or via book token if you are under the age of 16. Book reviewers do not receive a fee but the books you receive are yours to keep.

  • €60 for poetry and flash fiction
  • €85 for art and photography
  • €100 for short stories
  • €100 for essays (non-fiction)

Please be sure to read and adhere to the guidelines carefully, or your submission will not be considered.

Your submission piece must be written for a teen and young adult audience. If you want to have a look at the type of work we publish, you can buy physical and digital copies here.

We will not accept any submissions written, developed, or assisted by AI tools. Attempting to submit these works may result in being banned from submitting works in the future.

We aim to inform you of our decision within five weeks of submissions closing.

Should your submission be successful, we reserve the right to make minor edits to your work to comply with our style guide. 

Please note that we cannot offer feedback on unsuccessful submissions.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines, please feel free to ask at paperlanternsjournal@gmail.com

You can read about our policy on Contributors’ Rights here.