Applause Literary Magazine Earns Best E-Zine Honors

Written By: Rachel Putman

International Literary Journal, Applause, a publication created and run by University of Arkansas - Fort Smith students, won first place in the Literary E-zine category of the Southern Literary Festival’s 2026 Undergraduate Writing Competition. 

The honor recognizes Applause Issue 35, “Unnatural State,” which explores work that is strange, macabre, and unsettling. The award-winning journal was founded on the UAFS campus in 1980.

Ari Long, publication editor current UAFS student, frames “Unnatural State” as both a play on Arkansas’ nickname, “The Natural State,” and an invitation to readers to engage with the unusual, the uncomfortable, and the unfamiliar.

The issue calls attention to “unnatural relationships with the natural world, personal relationships with the unnatural, unnatural relationships with ourselves and with others, and all those spaces between,” according to the publication website.

 “We chose the theme for last year’s issue, the Unnatural State, as a playful twist on the slogan of Arkansas being the Natural State,” she said. “In that theme, we really tried to emphasize and uplift works surrounding the unusual, macabre, and, appropriately, the unnatural. Anything that spoke to the strange things we find when we look inside ourselves. I am hoping that, by bringing those things to the light, we are able to witness and celebrate them for what they are rather than continuing to hide them, and by doing this, maybe those subjects will start to become just a little less unnatural.”

The student-led publication is produced under the faculty mentorship of Dr. Zack Medlin, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing. Editors for Issue 35 were Ari, managing editor; Zac Mathias, special feature editor; Ashe Laudan, fiction editor; Jacob Childers, poetry editor; and Vincent Gonzales, nonfiction editor.

“Our students' attention to detail and dedication to excellence made this publication stand out,” said Medlin. “They chose exceptional pieces of writing to publish; they designed a visually appealing layout; and they organized the contents to give the reader a tightly curated, cohesive reading experience. Everyone worked incredibly hard on the issue last year, especially our editors — and this year is no different. We're finalizing issue 36 now so we can get it to the printer and bring Applause back as a print magazine in 2026.”

Along with the editorial team, student readers, designers, and promotion staff contributed to the issue’s production.

Ari accepted the award at the Southern Literary Festival, which was held April 9-11 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Organizers describe the event as a celebration of undergraduate creative writing through competition, readings, workshops, and conversations with established writers. Winners in the annual competition are recognized at the festival and published in the festival anthology.