All essays for the Ludwell Orthodox Fellowship blog should have a symbiotic theme which encompasses both the South AND Orthodoxy. It can be on any topic under that umbrella: your experience as an Orthodox Christian in the South, how your Southern parish feels like home, food, music, architecture, Southern customs, the South’s little-o orthodox religion or old-time religion and how they’re prime for making converts, kith and kin, respect of ancestors, reverence of the material as God’s creation (agrarianism), etc. Nothing too political or polemical, please.

Formatting and other requests:

• Submit all pieces in a simple word document (docx).
• Word count is 2,000 words max.
• No fancy formatting or fonts necessary: simple 12-point clear formatting works best.
• Do not use bullet points if you have lists.
• Do not indent.
• Instead of footnotes, use hyperlinks.
• When referencing a book, place the title in quotes. When referencing a magazine, place the title in italics.
• Title your essay. We may change it at publication, but at least we’ll have a starting point for ideas.
• Include a horizontal high-resolution feature photo (jpg or png) to accompany your essay. This should be a lead image you feel illustrates what you’re trying to communicate to readers.
• If you want photos embedded within your essay, submit those as individual jpg or png images and notate in your document where each is supposed to go. Include a photo caption if you would like.
• Put a short bio (2-4 sentences) at the end of your piece, which should include: if you’re cradle Orthodox, and if not, the year of your conversion; and where you live and/or the parish you attend.

Please review these guidelines and then send your essay and all photos as attachments by email to Submissions@SouthernOrthodox.org. Video and podcast suggestions can also be sent as links, or as mp4 and mp3 files respectively, to the same email address.

Note: For more scholarly treatments of a subject or theme, please see The Ludwell Review’s purpose and guidelines.