Dorna

Children's Magazine · open call

Send your work to the Children's Magazine.

Our magazine is written and illustrated entirely by children, anything you have to say, in any language. Your parent or guardian gives their okay at the very last step.

You're submitting to the open callHome

New here? Read the guide forparents·older kids·younger kids

What did you make?

Anything you made yourself counts. Pick the one that fits best. A grown-up can help you with any of this.

Show us your work

This is the important part, so take your time. Ask a grown-up to help with the photo if you like.

How to send your writing

  • You can write it straight into the box below, in any language you like.
  • Or upload it as a file: a photo of your handwriting, a PDF, or a text file all work.
  • Wrote it by hand? Photograph the page near a window, from right above, and check every word can be read.
  • You can even do both: upload the photo of your handwriting AND type it in the box. We love seeing real handwriting, and the typed version helps us read every word.
  • More than one handwritten page? Ask a grown-up to help put them into one PDF, or into one photo.
Drag & drop your artwork or writing here, or tap to browseImages, PDFs, or plain text files

Up to about 25 MB. For a story, poem or joke you can simply write it in the box below instead, or do both: a photo of the handwriting plus the typed words.

Want to show us how you made it? (optional)
Photos or a short video of you making itUp to 3 files, each up to 25 MB. A phone clip works great.

These are just for our editors, so we can see the fun behind the work. They are never shown anywhere public unless your parent or guardian gives us separate written permission later.

Which call is this for?

If you are answering one of our themes, pick it here. If not, that is fine too.

Fold your idea of home into something you can send, and let it fly to us

A crane always finds its way home. Show us yours.

Dorna means crane. Cranes fly enormous distances, over seas and cities and deserts, and they always find their way home. So for our very first edition, we are asking children everywhere one question: what is home to you?

Home can be so many things. The place you sleep, or the place you used to. The smell of a kitchen. The people around your table. A song, a story someone in your family tells, a street, a tree, a language. Something you carry with you even when you are far away. Or something you are still trying to figure out.

And home does not look the same for everyone. A house, an apartment, a tent, a houseboat, even an igloo: made of brick, or cloth, or snow, or simply made of people.

You can draw it, paint it, write it, photograph it, film it, or sing it. Any language. Any length. The only rule is that it is yours, something you made yourself. A grown-up can help you send it in, but the making is all you.

This is not a contest, and there are no winners or losers. Every piece that reaches us will find its audience: some in the printed magazine, all of them in our online archive, some at readings and events. And everyone who sends something will receive the finished edition when it flies out into the world in spring 2027, in time for Nowruz, the first day of spring.

So fold your idea of home into something you can send, and let it fly to us. The call is open until December 2026.

Work sent to an edition is considered for that magazine. A general submission still reaches the editors and can join a future edition.

What shall we call you?

Just your first name is fine. If you made it together, add everyone.

Did you make it together with someone?

How old are you, and where do you live?

Now a grown-up, please

This last part is for the parent or guardian. We cannot keep or publish the work without it.

Consent (please tick all)

Your typed name plus the timestamp recorded on submission counts as your electronic signature.

By sending this you confirm the consent items above. Stichting Dorna is the data controller. See the data notice below, or the full privacy policy.

This page is only for work made by children, for our Children's Magazine. A grown-up sending their own writing, translation, or art goes through Send it on, and every other programme that collects work has its own submission page, linked from its programme page.

How we use this

  • Data controller. Stichting Dorna, Alexander Boersstraat 18 H, 1071 KX Amsterdam, NL · KVK 96770831.
  • What we keep. First name, age, country, the work itself, plus the guardian's name, email, relationship, optional phone, and timestamped signature.
  • Encryption. Names, emails, phone numbers and signatures are encrypted at rest. The submitted work and editorial notes are not, they're what the editors review.
  • Retention. Unconfirmed submissions expire and are deleted after 14 days. Confirmed submissions are kept until the relevant magazine edition closes, or until the guardian asks us to remove them.
  • Withdraw at any time. Email info@dornafoundation.org and we'll delete the entry. No reason needed.

Prefer to send by post?

Mail the work to the address below, with a signed note from the parent or guardian including the four consent items above and a way to reach you (email or phone). We'll write back to confirm we received it.

Stichting Dorna, Children's MagazineAlexander Boersstraat 18 H
1071 KX Amsterdam
Netherlands

Questions: info@dornafoundation.org

May we count this visit? It tells us which pages people read and roughly where in the world they are, which is how we know whether the magazine is reaching anyone. We use Google Analytics for it, it sets a cookie, and the site works exactly the same if you say no. What we collect.