CWAC Journals

Did you produce phenomenal academic writing this calendar year?
Submit to The Undergraduate Spectrum!
Professors and students can nominate any work from January-December 2025.
WRITING - To nominate a piece of writing for the next publication, submit here.
VISUAL ART - To nominate a piece of visual art for the next publication, submit here.
While we accept submissions throughout the year, our deadline is December 31. | Finalists will be notified in late January. | |
All submissions will be judged by Writing Advisers and faculty members. | Winners will be published in the next edition of The Undergraduate Spectrum. |
2026 Journal Contest

Submit Your Best Writing!
Submit a piece of writing for the 2026 Newman Awards (Collegiate Seminar writing) and Spectrum Awards (writing in the disciplines).
Finalists will be announced by the end of Jan Term.
The Undergraduate Spectrum

A Brief History of The Undergraduate Spectrum
The Undergraduate, which was first published in 1991, is an academic journal devoted to showcasing exemplary work from the Collegiate Seminar Program. Spectrum was created in 1987 to honor exemplary writing across the disciplines. These journals merged in 2017 to form The Undergraduate Spectrum, a journal highlighting the diverse, artistic and rhetorical practice at Saint Mary's College of California.
Submissions
We welcome submissions in any genre of prose writing produced as part of an undergraduate class in any discipline. In visual art, we welcome submissions of original, 2D student artwork - photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, digital, or mixed media.
Latest Issues
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LeviSullivan
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![]() Image Credit
OliviaBianic
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The Undergraduate Spectrum issues are distributed to the Saint Mary's community and are available to download and share with friends and family.