Emplace, a new digital publication, invites community members to contribute stories about how they build community, relationships, and a sense of place in the St. Louis region. We welcome established and emerging voices and a wide variety of formats.
Emplace centers placemaking through storytelling as a creative practice. The term emplace evokes intentionality, care, and action in relation to the work of strengthening communities through sharing local stories. Stories have the power to create change. Stories shape who we are, how we understand the world around us, and how we imagine the future. Through storytelling, Emplace advocates for spatial justice, in which people have access to healthy living environments, equal access to resources and services, and the ability to contribute to the identity and future of their homes.
Emplace supports its contributors with developmental editing and community-based review, creating a genre of public scholarship that values the works of diverse contributors. The interactive story genres on Emplace include data visualization, video production, podcasting, mapping, graphic networks, and scrollytelling, a technique that dynamically reveals multimedia content as a reader scrolls through a narrative.
Contributors don’t need to have technical expertise, just a story to tell. SIUE’s IRIS Center for Digital Humanities will support contributors in bringing their digital stories to life, including technical and editorial support. Contributions will be reviewed prior to publication, and accepted authors will receive honoraria of $500 per piece.
Genres might include, but aren’t limited to:
- Scrollytelling
- Storymaps
- Multimedia essays
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Data storytelling
- Zines, guides, curriculum
Submit proposals using the form below for consideration by April 1, 2026