Tiger PAWS will consider short fiction, non-fiction, journals, poetry and digital art
By R. Eguia
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
St. Philip’s College students who want to be published writers or artists can submit work to the campus journal Tiger PAWS for consideration.
Categories include short fiction (1,000 word limit); non-fiction, including essays, journals and exposes; poetry; photography; fine arts such as paintings, sculpture and collages; and digital art.
Submissions must be original, unpublished work. Students may submit a total of five works. Files submitted online must be in PDF or JPEG formats. Fine art may be taken to the INRW 0420 Lab in Norris Technical Building 405 to be photographed or scanned. The deadline is March 4. The submission form can be accessed at www.spcdev1.alamo.edu/TigerPAWS/Material.aspx.
PAWS is an acronym for Personal Academic Writing Space, a showcase of student writing, in both English and Spanish, and artwork that is published in hardcopy and online forms.
This will be the eighth edition of Tiger PAWS. Last fall’s issue can be viewed at www.issuu.com/spcenglishlab/docs/tiger_paws_layout_fall_2015_final_1/
PAWS directors Jamie Miranda and Lee Ann Epstein have helped guide students through the publication process since 2012.
Miranda participated in a creative journal when she was a student at Our Lady of the Lake University and wanted to bring that experience to students at St. Philip’s College.
Last semester, the PAWS staff received more than 20 applications for editorial positions and more than 90 submissions to be considered for publication. Miranda said entries vary per semester because students can submit work throughout the year.
Epstein said the journal began as an exercise in the Integrated Reading and Writing lab, expanded to the English department and now encompasses the entire St. Philip’s campus.
A publication ceremony at the end of the semester will recognize the completion of the journal and award prizes to contributors and scholarships to the editorial staff.
Students who apply for the editorial staff are eligible for a $1,000 scholarship if they are full-time students and a $500 scholarship for part-time students. Students may use the scholarships in their next semester.
The student editorial staff critiques all submissions, helps choose what will be published, selects the cover art and design, pairs literary pieces with artwork and photography, helps design the layout and assists with the publication event at the end of the semester.
Four prizes will be awarded in the following categories: art, poetry, photography and prose. Judges are faculty members who have been with the journal since its inception. San Juan San Miguel, St. Philip’s College coordinator of the Rose R. Thomas Writing Center, judges prose; Nereida Reyes, writing center tutor, judges poetry; and Mitchell Miranda, award-winning artist and photographer, judges art and photography.
Last semester’s winners in each category received Kindle Fires.
Epstein works with the editorial students to help them organize the journal and keep up with deadlines.
“The students do a tremendous amount of work in such a fast turnaround time,” she said. “Our deadline is in the middle of the semester, so the students have a little less than eight weeks to get it all out.”
Both directors like to see the diversity of the submissions, which include the works of veterans, international and first-time students. They said Tiger PAWS is typically the first time students are published.
“Students are validated and celebrated for their brilliance in this journal, which does not happen all the time in a regular academic environment,” Epstein said.
For more information, call the St. Philip’s INRW lab at 210-486-2630 or 210-486-2307.