About Polyphony H.S

Polyphony H.S. is an student-run national literary magazine for high-school writers. Our title is a combination of the Greek term meaning many voices, and the abbreviation for High School.

Polyphony H.S. was co-founded by Paige Holtzman (Latin School of Chicago ’06) and Billy Lombardo in August 2004. At that time, there was no other magazine like it in the country; that is, a professional quality, national literary magazine for high school writers, edited by high school students from public, private, and parochial schools; and there is still nothing like it in the world.  Not only do our editors invite high school writers to submit their work for professional publication, but also they give editorial feedback to every author who submits a manuscript. This extends to continuing a dialogue with accepted authors in an effort to strengthen each piece.

When we published our first edition in the spring of 2005, we had 156 submissions from 361 schools across the country and 23 published pieces. Submissions have grown steadily. In 2009 we received nearly a thousand submissions and published just 51 pieces. Submissions  come from nearly every U.S. state and ten foreign countries, including Canada, the Czech Republic, England, Kenya, Pakistan, Russia, and South Korea. 

Previously associated with the Latin School of Chicago, Polyphony H.S. is now 501(c)3 non-profit organization, incorporated in the State of Illinois.  We work with the National Association of Independent Schools Student Diversity Leadership Conference to attract a broad range of young voices and have received a Superior Rating from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Program to Recognize Excellence.  Polyphony H.S. student editors have participated in panel discussions at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) national conference. We are the sole high-school member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP).