By: Madison Lyda
Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor society, is rekindling the tradition of publishing the honor societies literary journal, “The Rose.”
The society chose to bring back the publication after noticing that creativity was making a comeback on the Cameron campus.
The organization is currently accepting submissions.
“The Rose” is a student literary journal created and selected entirely by the members of the Sigma Tau Delta honor society.
Sigma Tau Delta published a journal many years ago much like the current one, but due to student interest at the time, the publication died out.
Faculty advisor for Sigma Tau Delta Dr. William Carney said the difference between the two literary publications in the department of English isn’t in the quality of content, but the styles of management.
“The department has ‘The Goldmine’ which is a great place for students to submit their work,” he said. “It’s a lot more of a formal publication and offers a lot more input from the department.
“This one is student run, student managed, and is a more informal and user-friendly place to submit your work. We welcome you to submit your work to both publication though.”
All the work, from informing the student body to building a close team, organizing and reviewing submissions and putting the publication together, is entirely student led with only minor help from the advisor.
Carney said he offers guidance to the staff and students interested in publishing their work when needed.
“It’s a student journal, and I want my members to act as the editors and the advertisers,” he said. “It’s their project, and I am here to oversee, answer questions and to encourage other departments to share their story as well.”
Each spring semester, the society asks students on Cameron’s campus to submit work of their own to be published.
Students can choose to enter any form of creativity they have to offer: from poetry, fiction, photography and even artwork.
The society offers no content restrictions creativity-wise to students submitting their work.
The only rule established by the staff is that any literary work should not extend past 3,000 words due to spacing.
If a student’s work is selected but does not meet this requirement, the staff will contact the writer and give them the option and time to trim the story or select a new one that does meet the requirement.
Carney said the publication staff wants students to be able to publish their work and helps in guiding students during the process to ensure success.
“If you’ve never submitted your work before and don’t know the ins and outs of publishing,” he said, “‘The Rose’ has great editors who will help you through the process and get you published. I’m very proud of that.”
Students have the opportunity to include publications on their professional curriculum vitaes (CVs), which is a personal marketing document writers use to sell their works to prospective publishing companies or employers.
Junior Creative Writing major and Managing Editor for “The Rose” Katherine Book said the opportunity for students to have their work published is important for students and writing majors.
“As a Creative Writing major, any submission to a publication goes on my CV,” she said. “It goes on the CV if you submit and obviously it goes on the CV if you get published, which makes it easier for creative writers or writers at all to continue getting published if that’s something they’re looking for.”
Students interested in submitting their work must submit no later than 5 p.m. on Feb. 28 to therosecu@gmail.com.
For students interested in being a part of Sigma Tau Delta or helping with the publication of ‘The Rose,’ the society is always looking for new members to join the organization.
Throughout the year, Sigma Tau Delta participates in multiple creative and bonding activities as a group.
Carney said the bond Sigma Tau Delta develops in its chapter is what sets it apart from most honor societies on the Cameron campus.
“We do lots of nerdy things,” he said. “We celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday, we have movie nights, we do trivia and we have fun. We get to know each other which isn’t a very common case with a lot of other honor societies on campus.
“We want to know each other, we want to know you.”
Students do not have to be English majors to be a part of the honor society, as long as the students have a 3.0 average in nine credit hours of English courses.
To be considered for entry, students must include their names and the titles of the work in the email.
For more information on the literary journal or the Sigma Tau Delta honor society, students can contact Dr. Carney at wcarney@cameron.edu.