At Zinc, we've found that students love reading what other students have to say. In fact, student-written articles on the Zinc platform are our most-read student picks!

Filament is Zinc Learning Lab’s is a teen literary journal. Once or twice a year Zinc publishes short stories, poetry, essays, and visual art by teens. All teens 13 years of age and older are encouraged to submit their work for review during Filament’s open submissions period. Students can enter work written for a class assignment or work they’ve created on their own.

Writing and art chosen for publication appear on the Filament website and may also be showcased on the Zinc Learning Labs platform. Teen writing can be found in the Zinc Teen Writing channel on the Article page. Written work that appears on Zinc also includes an article quiz.

Past Filament issues include teen writing on a wide variety of themes, including mythology, college essays, sports, songs and sounds, sci fi, and finding your voice.

Teachers can encourage students to submit class writing to the journal or create a Filament submission assignment for their class. Students can read more about the submission process and submit their work directly to Filament here. When a piece is chosen for publication, the student and their parent or guardian must sign a release form.

Filament also sends out monthly emails with popular writing prompts around creative themes such as “Family, Food, & Identity” and “The Mystery Suitcase.” Teachers and students can also find these prompts on the Filament blog.

To learn more about Filament visit the journal’s website, or sign up for the monthly mailing list here. Check the website’s submission page for open submission calls.