Cairns: The Unity Church Journal of the Arts

Cairns: The Unity Church Journal of the Arts is our annual, edited journal with an open call for submissions of poetry, prose, art, sermons, and music by members and youth of Unity Church and Above Every Name, as well as pledging friends, volunteers, or those in the process of becoming members. Each issue is created by a small staff of Unity members, and published by Reredos Press, a program of Unity Church. Cairns is self-supporting with in-kind services from Unity. As Rev. Karen Hering wrote in the introduction to the first issue, "we are adding to the scriptures of our world." 

What You Need to Know About Submitting to Cairns

Who May Submit
Unity Church and Above Every Name members, pledging friends, staff, current participants, and youth in Religious Education or Tower Club, or youth of members and pledging friends.

What to Submit

• Art: drawings, paintings, prints, collage, photographs, sculpture, and more
• Poetry
• Prose: meditations, short stories, reflections, memoir, humor, community outreach stories, Unity Church or Unitarian Universalist history, prayers, call to worship, sermons, and more
• Art and writing related to the worship themes

Note: All submissions must be original and owned by the contributor. We accept previously published works, but the contributor must hold the copyright.

How Much To Submit

• Six poems, and/or 
• Two works of prose of 1500 words or less, and/or 
• Six works of art

How to Submit
Through Email (preferred):

1. Complete a Cairns Submission Form online
2. ​Prepare your digital files:
        • Label the file with your name and the title of the work.
        • For text documents, put your name and/or title on each page.
   When submitting text files:
        • MS Word or other word processing program file is preferred (not a pdf).
   When submitting art files:
        • JPG is the preferred format (other file types are accepted).
        • 300 dpi resolution is required. 
   Contact us if you have questions
3. Email your files to: cairns@unityunitarian.org

Hard Copies

1. Place in an envelope or wrapper and label with your name and the title of the work. 
2. With art, note whether you are submitting a copy or an original work. Work will be scanned or photographed to prepare for publication. 
3. Complete a Cairns Submission Form online

Note: Cairns pages are prepared in a consistent style, format, and font; art and text will be resized and/or reformatted to fit a Cairns page. 

What Happens Next

1. Each contributor is assigned an editor who is responsible for copyediting and communicating with  the contributor. All Cairns editors review all submissions. 
2. Art and literary pieces are selected for publication by consensus of the editorial board. Due to limited space, not every submission is selected for publication. Selection criteria includes:
             a. Accordance with Unity Church’s mission and values
             b. Appropriateness for main audience: adults and teens/youth 
3. Editors will contact contributors to inform them of decisions regarding their submissions.  
4. If your work is accepted for publication, you must sign a standard publishing agreement giving Unity Church the rights to publish the work before the issue is printed. Unity Church does not own and may not resell your work. The authors and artists retain copyright of their work. 

​Questions? Contact Us: cairns@unityunitarian.org