Manhattan High School students seeking a creative outlet can turn to The Blue Light Journal to publish their creative writing and artwork.

The Blue Light Journal is a literary magazine made up of student works like poetry, personal narratives and photography. The Journal gives every student an opportunity to publish their creative works and display their talents to the world. While The Journal has been published for several years, there was not an edition in 2018, so Kim was part of a student group that brought it back last year. 

Currently The Journal is looking for more board members to help make sure this opportunity stays available to students.

“We realized that there wasn’t really a creative outlet for the humanities, as far as… creative writing and photography, for students to really showcase their talents,” senior board member Elizabeth Kim said. ”We really wanted to get that started back up again, because there’s not a lot of recognition for that subject in general in the school.”

The Journal allows for all students to get involved with a creative outlet, whether they like any type or writing or photography. Board members for The Journal play an important role in the creation and publishing of the magazine. The board members work to write for the magazine, edit and judge the works, as well as uphold the tight schedule The Blue Light Journal has.

“I would love to have a very solid work schedule. So publishing… has to be very rigid in terms of like timetable and scheduling, and that was something that we struggled a little bit on, because we had to start it back up again,” Kim said.

Right now, The Blue Light Journal board consists of three members, freshman Neo Kim, sophomore Julianna Poe and senior Elizabeth Kim. They hope for more board members to join this year, with at least two board members from every grade.

Even if students don’t join the editorial board, they are still able to publish their works in the magazine. After getting 50 submissions last year, the board members hope that with more board members, they can double that this year.

Students can apply for the editorial board until Jan. 22 and submit their creative works until the beginning of April. The official submission due date will be determined after board members have been selected. Students applying to the board can submit a paragraph detailing their vision for the literary magazine to [email protected] and once members have been selected a link will be posted where students can submit their creative works.

“[The goal is] getting that name out there and making sure that the students are aware of this opportunity to express themselves,” Kim said.