Submissions surge while Encounters budget shrinks

Baruch's Encounters magazine, which is published once per semester, experienced a bittersweet fall edition, with an influx of submissions and a cut in their budget.

The literary magazine, which contains works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and photography, downsized by a third, changing its page count from 160 to 108.

"I panicked because I wasn't sure what we would be able to come up with," said Editor-in-Chief Viktoria Syrov.

This semester, there were 160 poetry submissions, more than three times the amount of last semester. Fiction and nonfiction also contained twice the amount of the previous semester submissions.

Syrov said that due to "printing constraints," the Encounters staff had to choose six less poems than the last issue, adding up to 24 submissions in the current magazine due out on Tuesday. The nonfiction and fiction sections each were each cut by eight submissions as well.

The EIC was told that the cut, which was half of their budget, was imposed to save the survival of next year's issue.

"I thought it was awkward for us to ask [for an increase in Encounters' budget] since Dollars & Sense lost its budget for publishing completely," said Syrov. "I didn't want Encounters to ask for more."

The budget cut didn't affect the process of choosing works, the meetings just ran longer due to the increase in submissions to choose from.

The fall '09 Encounters will be released this Tuesday at its reception in room 14-220 of the Vertical Campus at 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. The reception will feature the announcement of the Harman fiction story contest, chosen by current Harman-Writer-in-Residence professor Joseph O'Connor, the winner of the Encounters cover contest, and readings of the magazine's published works. Guest singer Mary Courtney will also perform at the event.

"I am really excited with the amount of the submissions and for our upcoming reception, " said Syrov.