For years a campus fixture, The Winged Lion has been grounded in favor of two new publications.

The new literary offering will be called bordertown.

“We are reformatting the magazine and are accepting submissions from alumni as well as current students,” said Adam Stratton, senior English and manufacturing information management systems major. “This biggest goal for this year is to get our name out so we can attract more submissions so we can publish a bigger and better journal.”

Stratton said when the English and art departments decided to publish separate magazines, the name of the magazine for the English department changed from The Winged Lion.

“The name bordertown was chosen to reflect Joplin’s location – historically and geographically,” he said. “This area has always been important as a meeting place between ideas, regions, cultures and lifestyles.”

Dr. Joey Brown, director of the writing program, said the separation of the departments was an “evolution.”

“The fact that we now have two magazines rather than one is a reflection of the times,” she said.

Brown said as the departments’ curriculums and technology have changed, it was “natural” for each department to do its own projects.

“We’re able to produce a magazine that is truly a literary journal, and now art is able to do a magazine that is truly an arts journal,” she said.

Stratton said in separating from the art department, the English department is in control of the developing and formatting of the magazine.

“This gives the English staff members more control and responsibility,” he said, “hence, more experience with the design and actual production of the magazine. It also allows us to print a journal that looks and feels more like a journal should.”

Stratton said submissions from all majors and grades are accepted, and the magazine accepts poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction.

“There is a word limit of 7,000 words per piece for prose, with a limit of three works of prose and five poems per author,” he said.

Stratton said the journal staff reads and ranks the submissions when they are judged.

“Dr. (Joey) Brown has a system that protects the identity of each author so the journal staff is unaware of who wrote what,” he said. “This allows each piece to be treated the same, even if it was written by a staff member or friend.”

Stratton said working on the magazine gives members experience in editing, designing and publishing a journal. Stratton also said the magazine is important to Missouri Southern.

“It provides a creative outlet for students and gives them a chance to express themselves and be recognized for it,” he said. “It can also be the first step to publishing elsewhere.”

Submissions for the bordertown magazine can be turned into Hearnes Hall Room 300 or e-mailed to Dr. Brown at [email protected] as a Word attachment by Nov. 13.

Stratton said the magazine will arrive sometime in the spring.

“We can’t be certain on the dates because of the publisher we are using,” he said.