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Submission Guidelines

Submissions Open: December 13, 2025 -March 23, 2026 (by 11:59 pm ET)

Theme: Silver Thread

***Do not share/modify/reuse any work on Three Panels Press without crediting the artists/contributors.

Image by Geordanna Cordero

Definitions

Ekphrastic: the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device; An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.

How many pieces can I submit?

poetry: up to 5

 

prose: up to 3, no more than 1,500 words per piece

 

photography and artwork: up to 10

Image by Birmingham Museums Trust
Image by Chris Czermak
Image by Birmingham Museums Trust

Where/How to submit

please submit your work to our JotForm. If you have any issues, please email us at threepanelspress@gmail.com or DM us on social media.

 

we accept writing in docx. & pdf. photography/art jpeg & png.

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for written work, please start each piece on a new page.

Guidelines/Rights

No work previously published in a professional capacity will be accepted. Work that you posted on social media or personal blogs, etc. are fine.

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We accept simultaneous submissions but let us know if your piece is accepted elsewhere.

 

We strongly encourage women, BIPOC, LGBT+ entries.

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We are not able to provide payment at this time, but we hope to be able to in the future.

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If you submitted work to our last issue and you were accepted, please wait until the next issue to submit again. Thanks!

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Rights: by submitting to us, if accepted, you grant us first electronic rights and non-exclusive archival rights. all submissions remain the intellectual property of the artist. Rights revert back to the author upon publication.

Image by Birmingham Museums Trust
Image by Europeana

What we are looking for

We invite you to interpret Silver Thread boldly and personally. Show us how the strands of your life, memory and aging, ancestry and inheritance, beauty and erosion, intertwine in your work. Think of the shimmer of wisdom, the ache of recollection, the quiet persistence of lineage, the elegance of graying, the threads that fray and the ones that hold fast. Or take the theme somewhere entirely unexpected. We’re looking for art, poetry, prose, and photography that tugs at something deep within us, work that traces the filaments of connection, that illuminates what endures, what fades, and what binds us to each other. Be vivid. Be evocative. Let your work glint in the light.

art with three panels.jpg

Prompts (not required but for inspiration)

  • Follow a single silver thread, literal or symbolic, and show where it leads, what it binds, or what it refuses to let go of.

  • Capture something that is fading and something that is enduring, then explore the tension between the two.

  • Begin with an inherited memory (true or imagined) and let it shape a moment, scene, or image in your work.

  • Portray beauty in the act of aging, not as decline but transformation, softness weathered into strength.

  • Explore what connects you to those who came before, whether through lineage, ritual, resemblance, or something harder to name.

art with three panels.jpg
Image by Kseniya Lapteva

Ekphrastic for issue 05

Create an ekphrastic based on any photography of older adults by @arianne.clement.photography on Instagram or @rubyjeanphotography on Instagram.

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