High Grade Prepares for Another Successful Year

High Grade is Colorado School of Mines’ annual literary arts journal that publishes the various works of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. High Grade publishes fictional short stories, poetry, photography, art, music and even the spoken word. They are currently looking for submissions for this year’s edition.

If you have never heard of High Grade before, whether a new freshman or simply a distracted upperclassman, don’t worry. Several previous editions are available on the High Grade website (http://highgrade.mines.edu), or you might even be able to find another student who has a copy or two.

Flipping through a copy, it is obvious that many students, faculty, and staff at Mines have incredible hidden talents. Beautiful photos, fascinating stories, and intriguing poems could possibly distract you from homework for hours at a time.

At Mines, it is common for people to get so focused on school work and tests that we forget that there is a world outside of math, science, and engineering. Do you have a creative streak that has been buried? Do you want more recognition for your talent? Consider submitting a piece of work to this year’s High Grade.

Last year, there were over 500 submissions so it is almost guaranteed that you know someone else who has either submitted something or will be this year. Katy, a junior, said, “I am so excited to go take some pictures of the beautiful fall leaves. Hopefully, I can get some pictures good enough to submit to High Grade.” This just proves that you never know if someone snapping pictures on Kafadar has ulterior motives.

To be eligible to submit, you must be a current Mines student, staff member or faculty. So go out, write a story or poem or take some pictures or write a song or a written piece and submit it to High Grade. Take a  leap of faith and give it a go. “I was too nervous to submit something last year. I didn’t think my writing was good enough but I am going to try this year. It is worth a try.” said Jack, a current Mines student.

For more details on how to submit your work to High Grade, check out the submissions section of the High Grade website: http://highgrade.mines.edu/submit.html.

The deadline for art, poetry and fiction submissions is Nov. 30.

The deadline for music and spoken word submissions is: start of spring semester, exact dates TBD.