The Athenaeum Press, the student-driven publishing lab at Coastal Carolina University, is seeking stories organic to this region-from South Carolina's history to issues this region faces today. From archives, concepts, little-known places, old folk stories and buried treasure, if there's a good story, the Press wants to hear about it.

Unlike other university presses, The Athenaeum Press does not publish completed manuscripts, but instead develops projects from the ground up with a team of faculty, students and community members. Teams develop, refine and storyboard the project, then design and build the project across a wide variety of formats. The result is a multimedia work that is both digital and tangible.

"The Press uses our corner of the state as a classroom for our students," said Alli Crandell, project manager for the Press. "It is part design lab, part classroom, part museum for our community. We bring the talents of our faculty and students to help tell the unique stories of our region, to help define what makes this place, our place, matter."

Over the past five years with the help of more than 100 students, the Press has produced a photography book about a 19th-century journey in a paper canoe, a web series documentary about homelessness in Myrtle Beach, and an interactive and traveling museum exhibit on African-American soldiers during WWII, among others.

"Each one of the students who has been a part of the Press over the years has been personally affected by learning something and engaging with our community on a variety of projects - from energy policy to Gullah Geechee heritage - through design, research and storytelling," said Crandell.

The Press' focus is not limited to ideas that originate from within the internal CCU community. It has published Jane Spillane's memoir, "My Life with Mickey," and collaborated with other organizations and universities like the Penn Center and Norfolk State University for the "Gullah: The Voice of an Island" project. It also publishes the South Carolina Political Science Association's Journal of Political Science annually.

Anyone can submit a project idea: community members, nonprofit organizations, or students and faculty members at CCU or other institutions. The Press especially encourages project ideas and submissions from underrepresented communities that expand and diversify the perception of this region. The Press is interested in projects dealing with distinctive, experimental and boundary-challenging topics.

Projects are developed over the course of a semester or a year, depending on the amount of field work and research required. People who submit project proposals will work closely with the Press to develop and guide the project, and the team will determine how best to tell the story.

All that is required to submit a project is a short description, biographies of the proposers and a preliminary budget. Projects are evaluated based on their potential for multimedia development, collaboration and student learning potential. Complete details can be found at theathenaeumpress.com/submit. The proposal deadline has been extended to April 20, 2018.

Past projects and the call for submissions can be found at theathenaeumpress.com.

Social media:

Facebook: facebook.com/theathenaeumpress

Instagram: @athenaeumpress

YouTube: "The Wealth of Nothing" project launch / The Press celebrates its $100,000 grant for Sandy Island project