A Taste of Something New

I received my first unsolicited submission! Finally! The week before this thing is due. I'm so excited though. A couple weeks ago, I posted a call for submissions on Columbia's new classified ad section on the InTheLoop thing for students and alumni and I think that is probably where she learned about my magazine. The best part is that the submission is for the Taste section, which was lacking any content. Now I just need to figure out what to say in the acceptance letter - wish I had some acceptance letters of my own to refer to. I want to write her and be like, "OMG! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your awesome poem! Because I was really getting desperate for something to fill the Taste section and this poem is better than I ever expected to find!" But that really wouldn't be very professional would it? I feel a bit embarrassed though, because the submission comes from a stranger, a Columbia alumni, and is a very well written poem, whereas my other submissions were solicited as favors from my amateur friends - some of which haven't written anything since high school. Not to slam them or anything, because their submissions are much appreciated, but it is not the best work I've ever read in my life. Now, with a real writer other than myself, I feel like the stakes have been raised. It no longer feels like just another class project. This person may actually credit my magazine in her cover letter for future submissions. Whoa.