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# Onward! 2025 Joint Call for Papers and Essays
The ACM SIGPLAN Symposium on New Ideas in Programming and Reflections on
Software (Onward!) is a forum for new ideas and paradigms for every aspect of
programming. Welcomed are both papers and essays (in separate tracks) that
propose and argue for new approaches to the creation of software as well as
reflections on technology and ideas bearing on programming broadly construed.
## Important Dates (Both Tracks)
- Submission: April 24, 2025
- First round notification: June 6, 2025
- Revision deadline: July 17, 2025
- Final Notification: August 11, 2025
- Camera-Ready: August 25, 2025
## Onward! 2025 Papers
Onward! Papers is looking for grand visions and new paradigms that could make a
big difference in how we will one day build software. But it is not looking for
research-as-usual papers—conferences like OOPSLA are the place for that. Those
conferences require rigorous validation such as theorems or empirical
experiments, which are necessary for scientific progress, but which typically
preclude discussion of early-stage ideas. Onward! papers must also supply some
degree of validation because mere speculation is not a good basis for progress.
However, Onward! accepts less rigorous methods of validation such as compelling
arguments, exploratory implementations, and substantial examples. The use of
worked-out examples to support new ideas is strongly encouraged.
The full call for papers is available at
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://2025.splashcon.org/track/splash-2025-Onward-papers*Call-for-Papers__;Iw!!IBzWLUs!UTOtDuzTVxSktRwrVuOZuIHUW5TuJtg17zxnNKvyGE4DrscRue-srr1Ma-SRWFzHO7fKquDeGpTXkYF1BhyEWD-9d_qPfKQ$
## Onward! 2025 Essays
Onward! Essays is looking for clear and compelling pieces of writing about
topics important to the software community. An essay can be long or short.
An essay can be an exploration of the topic and its impact, or a story about
the circumstances of its creation; it can present a personal view of what is,
explore a terrain, or lead the reader in an act of discovery; it can be a
philosophical digression or a deep analysis. It can describe a personal
journey, perhaps the one the author took to reach an understanding of the
topic. The subject area—software, programming, and programming languages—should
be interpreted broadly and can include the relationship of software to human
endeavors, or its philosophical, sociological, psychological, historical, or
anthropological underpinnings.
Onward! Essays invites proficient software developers, experienced academics,
and courageous graduate students to submit essays on the current state and
possible futures of software development technology and practices, as well as
presentations of ideas that could change the realm of software development.
Constructive criticism is welcome and authors who are dissatisfied—or
satisfied!—with the state of our art are encouraged to share insights about how
to reform—or improve—software development, perhaps by presenting detailed
examples of a new approach, demonstrating concrete benefits and potential risks.
Onward! Essays is not looking for research-as-usual papers—an essay doesn’t
contain definitive validation; however, regardless of its form or topic, the
essay must have “substance.” An essay may or may not have a conclusion, but it
must provide some insight or compelling argument, either directly or indirectly
stated; the reader should be left—perhaps after some reflection—in no doubt
about the claimed insight or argument. The key characteristic of a successful
essay is that it shows a keen mind coming to grips with a tough or intriguing
problem in such a way that, as Virginia Woolf wrote, “it explains much and
tells much.”
The full call for papers is available at
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://2025.splashcon.org/track/splash-2025-Onward-Essays*Call-for-Essays__;Iw!!IBzWLUs!UTOtDuzTVxSktRwrVuOZuIHUW5TuJtg17zxnNKvyGE4DrscRue-srr1Ma-SRWFzHO7fKquDeGpTXkYF1BhyEWD-911q30jA$
