top of page
gulfer-ergin-LUGuCtvlk1Q-unsplash_edited.jpg

THE MEMORIAL SPOTLIGHT

The Vel Phillips Memorial High School Literary Journal

ABOUT

The journey of the Vel Phillips Memorial High School Literary Journal started back in 1983. The first journal, Pressions, was the school's forum for creative writers. Their mission was to showcase creative writing and poetry for a school that did not have a creative writing elective. "For three years, most of the work Pressions published was written not for a grade, but for the sake of writing," said advisor W. R. Rodriguez. Pressions lasted until 2013.

​

Fast forward to 2020, Mia Braico got the idea for The Memorial Spotlight when she stumbled upon the Pressions website. Together with staff advisors, Ms. Guse and Mr. Walkner, Mia and the team of editors brought Pressions back to life as The Memorial Spotlight.

​

Check out some of the Pressions submissions below!

Award Winning Literary Journal

Vel Phillips_banner.png
Vel Phillips HS.png

We are thrilled to announce that our magazine has been named an Excellent magazine in the 2022 NCTE Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines (REALM) contest and a First Class magazine in the 2023 contest!

First Class-Winning 2022-23 Literary Journal

Entering Submissions

There are a couple steps we ask you to take before you enter your piece into the journal. Here are our requirements for formatting your piece.

Short Stories

  • No more than 2,000 words

  • Typed double spaced

  • 12 point font

  •  Times New Roman

Poetry

  • Poem cannot exceed two pages in length

  • 12 point font

  •  Times New Roman

Plays

  • No Length Requirement

  • 12 point font

  • Courier

Visual Art

  • Has to be uploaded in a JPEG or PNG file

  • Submit up to 5 total pieces

How to submit

Click the button for more submission info!

Please remember that we only accept original work.

bottom of page