Call for Proposals

The New Polar Times is an upcoming independent publication created by and for those interested in the history of the "Heroic Age" of polar exploration, both Arctic and Antarctic. Inspired by the South Polar Times – the newspaper of both of Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expeditions, edited by Ernest Shackleton and Apsley Cherry-Garrard respectively – the New Polar Times will take the form of an interdisciplinary literary & arts zine showcasing the talents, interests, and original projects of a new generation of polar enthusiasts. The final product will take the form of a physical book – although a digital version will also be available.

Our submissions process will include two rounds: the first (due March 31st) will encompass proposals for written works and art pieces. The second will take the form of an application for Wilson- and Lillie-style cartoons and caricatures, some of which will be based on the anticipated content of the publication. If you’re looking to draw a comic, be sure to stay tuned for the second announcement!

FIRST ROUND: FEBRUARY 28–MARCH 31

For our first round of submissions, we are looking for proposals (works don’t need to be finished or even started at this stage) for works of the following types:

Historical narrative essays: Think Madhouse at the End of the Earth or Empire of Ice and Stone – tell us your favorite true story from polar history as just that – a story. Feel free to get creative with your storytelling, but remember to keep these nonfictional, as this is not a fandom-oriented project.

Interdisciplinary approaches to polar history topics: We want to hear from polar nerds in diverse fields (literature, classics, art and design, linguistics, social sciences, STEM fields, etc.) about people and events from the Heroic Age that are relevant to their studies! These are not expected to be full-fledged academic papers – we’re looking for short primers on what interests you about polar history. If you’re not sure if it fits, go ahead and pitch it! The worst we can do is tell you no.

Experimental formats: Remember Griff Taylor’s poem from the original South Polar Times about the Antarctic ecosystem? Got any ideas for a nonfiction piece that takes a more artistic or experimental form, like a poem, an infographic, a recipe, a comedic or dramatic skit (or something else we couldn’t think of because it’s so unique)? It needs to be short-form, but due to the nature of these submissions, we can’t give a precise word count limit. Tell us about it and we’ll work with you!

Parody pieces: Humorous columns in line with the content of the original South Polar Times. Think Griff’s “The Bipes” or “The Ladies’ Letter” – short, humorous pieces written in-character and exploring the daily lives and in-jokes of the explorers we’re studying as a way of breaking through the façade of glorification and nationalist mythology to explore their personalities, quirks, and interpersonal drama.

Standalone artworks and comics: Any polar-inspired artwork that isn’t a caricature or cartoon (save those for the second round!). It would help us greatly if you could also include a portfolio/art blog/website link alongside your submission so we can get a good idea of what your work looks like! You can also upload any preliminary sketches or example works to a Google Drive and send the link to that – we just need to know what it’s going to look like. Media can include but are not limited to:

✦        Drawing/illustration (digital or physical)

✦        Painting

✦       Collage

✦       Graphic design

✦        Printmaking

✦       Photography

✦       Sculpture

✦       Embroidery/Fibercraft

Additionally, works must meet the following guidelines:

Essays and articles must be no longer than 1500 words. We want to make sure there’s plenty of room for everyone! We’re just looking for proposals at the moment, so keep this in mind – if your final product exceeds the word count, it may be edited for brevity. However, the word limit can’t be as precise for more experimental works – as mentioned earlier, we’ll work with you! 

 Works must be based on a topic from a specific era of Arctic or Antarctic exploration history. We are referring to this era broadly as the “Heroic Age” – for the purposes of this publication, we consider this period to begin after the end of the Franklin relief expeditions in the mid-to-late 19th century and to last until the advent of successful polar aviation. In more concrete terms, consider this period to last from Charles Francis Hall’s 1871 Polaris Expedition until the death of Roald Amundsen in 1928. This is a longer period of time than is typically allotted to the Heroic Age, but we want to give our contributors the opportunity to explore the transitional periods before and after the Heroic Age proper.

Again, if you’re not sure your idea fits, or if you think it doesn’t quite fit, pitch it anyway – we’re looking for diverse and unexpected works from all sorts of creators. As previously stated: The worst we can do is tell you no. Any idea is worth a shot.

That said, there are a few types of work that will definitely not be accepted:

Fanfiction: Beyond the aforementioned parody works, we are not looking for fictionalized narratives. We ask that the interpersonal dynamics explored in your parody works remain firmly within the realm of the historically-documented and stay away from speculation. We have nothing against shipping or fanfiction in general – that’s just not the direction we’re looking to take with this project! 

Content outside the scope of the publication: We won’t be accepting submissions from outside the specified timeframe. For example, Franklin-related content will not be accepted. The Franklin Expedition is its own fascinating subject (and we love learning about it!), but our focus is on the period following that one.

Content based on or inspired by existing works of fiction or adaptations: We love The Terror, we really do. We love The Ministry of Time and we love The Birthday Boys and we love The Last Place on Earth. We’ve even seen The Red Tent. But the New Polar Times is not the place to share your lavishly-detailed artistic renditions of Mark Gatiss as Apsley Cherry-Garrard in that one adaptation of Worst Journey he did for the BBC back in the ‘00s. The only possible exception to this is if you’re working on your own project and you’d like to share some of the effort/research you’ve been putting in – that could be interesting!

Hateful content: Racism, sexism, antisemitism, islamophobia, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, intersexism, anything that reinforces the inherently oppressive boundaries between ethnicities, nationalities, religious beliefs, identities, abilities, etc. The goal of the New Polar Times is to center marginalized voices in a sub-field of history which has – as is the case with many other historical interests – suffered a lack of diverse perspectives. Our editorial committee reserves the right to turn down any submission that would undermine this goal.

Plagiarized or AI-generated content: All works submitted must be your own, and all collaborators must be credited! Because generative AI programs (including but not limited to ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion) do not credit or compensate the creators of the works used to train them, we consider their use a form of plagiarism and will not accept works that are partially or entirely AI-generated.

Our submission form will be published on February 28th. Proposals must be submitted no later than 11:59 PM EST on March 31st / 5:59 AM CET on April 1st.