ESSE, Ursuline Academy of Dallas' Literary Arts Magazine titled after the Latin word for "to be," is an annual compilation of student art and writing. The magazine staff works all year long to judge submissions and publish student contributions. Ursuline students from grades nine through twelve are encouraged to submit their art and literature pieces through Submission Manager. The ESSE selection staff then read the works anonymously and score them in relation to the theme of the magazine and the capacity of the piece. Pieces that receive the highest scores from the selection staff are published in the magazine. Students may continue to submit to ESSE until May 1, 2026. Anything submitted after May 1 will not be considered for the magazine.

Only current Ursuline Academy of Dallas students will be considered for publication.

The editors of ESSE have decided this year’s theme will be “Time.” We are looking for pieces that display how time has had an effect on you and your perspective. What has changed over time? What has stayed the same? We are also interested in featuring perspectives on the past, present, and future as well as how they are intertwined with one another. Time can be a concrete part of our lives in how it dictates what we do and when we do it, but it can also become indefinite in our minds, bending, speeding up or slowing down, repeating itself. We would like to see innovations in style, structure, and voice that mirror Time’s intangible nature. For this idea, think of Dalí’s iconic and surreal “melting clock painting” Persistence of Memory; time is represented by a tangible structure, but can still melt into a dreamlike state.  Time connects us all—it reminds us of the faults and triumphs of our humanity and is the basis on which we build our cultures. We would like to see pieces that reach both forward and back in time to create a moment in the present. Any and all explorations of time are welcome in ESSE this year.

• Esse accepts all types of work, including but not limited to poetry, short stories, one act plays, memoirs, drawings, paintings, photographs, and collages.
• You may submit as many pieces as you would like at a time. However, each piece should be submitted separately. (Please do not submit multiple pieces on the same document.)
• Please check that your name is not included on the document. Our readers should not know the author of the piece when considering a work for publication.
• If you want to be published, we MUST publish your work to your name. No pseudonyms, nom de plumes, or anonymous submissions
• If compelled, we encourage you to give a short description of what inspired your piece in the comments your submission.
• The status of your submission may remain “received” for a long period of time. Please do not be concerned by this. Due to our process for compiling the magazine, we will not know which pieces are accepted until late spring or early summer.
• Tip for submitting art: You may take a photo of your art piece and upload the jpg to Submission Manager.
• Once your writing is submitted, the advisers and editors reserve the right to edit for grammar and readability.

• This year Esse is hosting a cover art contest. If you are interested in having your artwork or photograph piece considered for the cover of the magazine, please submit your art piece under the “artwork” genre. Then write a note in the comments box that you would like to submit this for the contest.

For more information about Esse, please email our editor-in-chief at 26WStephens@ursulinedallas.org.

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1. Fill in all of your contact information.
2. Fill in the title of the work you are submitting.
3. Use the browse button to find the file on your computer that you would like to submit. Select the file and click on the open button. Your file will then appear in the “file” field.
4. If you wish you can fill in the comments field with any additional information you’d like to send, then click submit.
5. You will then have the option to review your information and confirm that it is correct. Hit continue and you’re done.