Voiceworks (journal)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Voiceworks is an Australian quarterly journal, which publishes fiction, poetry, essays and journalism by young writers, and comix, drawings and photos by young artists. All published contributors to Voiceworks are below the age of 25 and Australian residents. A salient feature of the journal is that it pays contributors for published work, and it has often served as the first paid job for many burgeoning writers and artists.
Its publisher, Express Media, was established in 1983, and now enjoys the support of funding bodies such as the Australia Council. Voiceworks was first published in 1990, in the form of a newletter, to promote Express Media's programme of workshops. From issue 6 onwards, Voiceworks began to be published in the glossier format that has come to be known in Melbourne publishing circles as the "jouzine", for its blurring of the lines between the magazine and journal forms.
Most decisions as to content selection, issue themes and editorial direction are made by the collective members of an editorial committee. The editorial committee, or EdComm, meets regularly, and is comprised of the editor (one of three paid staff at Express Media]) and a collective of volunteers. As Voiceworks is a quarterly journal, its production cycle spans three months. On average the EdComm would receive approximately 400 unsolicited submissions during this time, of which (due to space and funding constraints) only up to 30 can ever be published. Some submissions are selected because of an interesting interpretation of an issue theme - recent themes have included Superfunhappy (#66) and Genre (#65) - however contributors are frequently reminded of the Voiceworks motto: "themed work: good; good work: better; good, themed work: BEST".
Though based at the Melbourne offices of Express Media, Voiceworks has gradually acquired a nationwide audience, and it receives submissions from young writers and artists in every corner of Australia. Remote members of EdComm and regular interstate columnists help keep the journal in touch with the broader community, but recent surveys conducted by Express Media have displayed some concern amongst readers that Voiceworks remains slanted toward Melbourne culture and the urban environment, and so submissions from rural, regional and outer-suburban writers are always encouraged.
