After 31 years of publication, The Journal, Ohio State’s literary magazine, is tackling something new.

Beginning this summer and lasting until September 30th, The Journal will be accepting manuscripts for the first annual alumni writing contest. Contest coordinator and creative writing master’s student Christine Bonasso said the contest is a way to bring graduates back. The contest is open to all OSU students and alumni graduated before autumn quarter of this year.

“We wanted to find a way to reconnect alumni with literature and arts at OSU,” Bonasso said. “We wanted to get more involved with alumni events.”

Cecilia Johnson, associate editor of The Journal, said she was unaware of other contests of this type being conducted with other schools’ literary magazines.

What makes OSU’s magazine so unique is its wide range of influence, Bonasso said.

“The magazine itself is released throughout the country,” Bonasso said. “It is great national exposure for people who want to see their work published.”

Bonasso said she believes the number of submissions for the alumni contest will fall in line with the other contests The Journal runs, between 150 and 250 entries.

Bonasso said most of the grunt work lies with the associate editors like Johnson and Adam Cole who have to read through every entry.

“We get hundreds of submissions a year,” Johnson said. “Then we decide on 12 to give [to the judge of the contest]. We make sure the manuscripts remain anonymous and the decision is based on the writing and not the name.”

Ultimately, a winner and three honorable mentions will be chosen with the winner receiving a $500 prize and publication in The Journal.

According to The Journal’s Web site, the contest calls for “flash prose,” which is “a hot term for any writing under a certain number of words,” Bonasso said.

The contest will be accepting any type of fiction or non-fiction story that is less than 1,000 words, considered a brief short story.

“I hope it’s hard work,” Johnson said about possibly having to read hundreds of 1,000-word manuscripts. “I hope it’s not just English students writing either. There should be a variety of voices.”

Bonasso said the hardest work will come in verifying every entry is written by an actual OSU alum. However, the verification process is being done by someone else at the publication through the alumni database and should just be a matter of time.

Bonasso said she came up with the contest in April and has been working on it since.

The Journal does not expect to begin receiving submissions until middle to late summer.