JOHNSON CITY — In 1974, the faculty at East Tennessee State University established a way to showcase student creativity in literature and art by inaugurating an annual publication, The Mockingbird. Next spring, the 40th edition of the magazine will go on sale across campus and in the community.

The Mockingbird staff and contributors are students, and the resulting magazine represents a collaborative effort of the departments of Art and Design and Literature and Language.

The publication consists of four creative writing divisions: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and drama. A panel of judges determines the best entry in each category and the winning students receive $100 awards. Art submissions are selected through a contest within the Department of Art and Design. Submissions are being solicited from students through Oct. 15 for the anniversary issue.

The current editor of the magazine is Catherine Pritchard Childress, an ETSU graduate student studying literature and creative writing.

Childress notes, “I am delighted to serve as editor of the 40th anniversary edition of The Mockingbird, a journal that serves as a physical reminder of the commitment to creative writing by students and faculty at ETSU. I hope to honor them with this issue.”

For more information about The Mockingbird, visit www.etsu.edu/cas/litlang/mockingbird.