Submit pitches to newsroom[at]insidewaterloo.ca. Include “Pitch” in your subject line.
So, you’re looking to write for insideWaterloo? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
insideWaterloo is a publication based on the part of the Haldimand Tract known to settlers as Waterloo Region. We’re driven by a passion to provide space for voices that are often overlooked and ignored in the media landscape. We’re hyperlocal and believe that stories relevant to the region are connected to issues provincially, nationally, and around the world.
We see journalism as this collaborative effort with the community. Rather than just having you place your trust in us to tell your story, we want to give you the opportunity to tell it yourself. In doing so, we want to open up the doors to the newsroom. insideWaterloo will accept pitches from anyone: unpublished writers, seasoned freelancers, front-line activists, academics. If you have a unique voice and a story to tell that has a connection to Waterloo Region, we’re interested in reading it.
We are prioritizing submissions from equity-seeking writers, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, and racialized people. We encourage writers with overlapping and under-represented identities to submit to us.
Unsolicited submissions are welcomed, but please send us your pitch first in order for us to decide whether it would be a good fit for us. Our standard rate of pay for published articles is $0.16 per word with an upper limit of $200. We strongly believe in compensation and raise funds to make this work sustainable. If you are financially able to forgo payment, please do let us know.
Guidelines:
Themes
We publish themed issues every two to three months. Be sure to check back here or on our social media feeds to learn about current and upcoming issues we would like to cover.
- August 2022 – Climate Justice (deadline to pitch is May 31)
Last month the International Panel on Climate Change published a report acknowledging what many activists and indigenous peoples have known: that there is a link between the climate crisis and colonialism. From a climate justice perspective, we also know that racial capitalism, heteropatriarchy, and imperialism are interconnected root causes of climate change.
For our August issue, we are interested in pitches that are grounded in a climate justice point of view and address topics such as visions of transformational change; national and community level climate mitigation; in/equity of local climate action policies; technosolutions to climate change; solidarity building in climate movements; relations to land and water; histories/futurities of natural places and spaces.
- October 2022 – TBD
- December 2023 – TBD
Features
We publish investigative journalism and personal stories told in a variety of ways (i.e., essays, podcasts, visual stories, data visualization, et cetera). We want to read stories that can make us laugh, make us cry, shed light on community struggles and triumphs, hold truth to power and so on.
Ultimately, we want to read stories that will challenge us. Critical analysis and political commentary are welcome, and you can expect us to work closely with you to develop your story for publication.
Features are to be no more than 2,500 words. Longer articles will be accepted on a case-by-case basis depending on the topic and skill of the writer.
As you prepare your pitches, please keep the following things in mind (this list is borrowed and adapted from Briarpatch, a publication we’re a big fan of):
- Don’t pitch a topic so broad that we can’t pick out the driving argument. A pitch on “climate change” or “the history of Canada” won’t land.
- Avoid jargon and insider terminology.
- Don’t resort to tropes or predictable shock.
- Make sure to keep your pitch to us under 200 words. Make a case for us, and in extension the reader, that this story is worth reading.
- Be sure to explain why you’re the best person to tell this story.
Interviews/Roundtables
Sometimes the best way to tell a story is to go straight to the source. Have an expert in mind? Is there an activist stopping by that you would like to talk to? Or maybe you know a group of people with first-hand experience on an issue. Send us your pitch and we will do our best to help facilitate a meeting. Recordings are to be kept for transcript purposes. The article should be edited down for brevity and clarity.
Reviews
Arts and culture are very important to us and society at large. We publish short reviews of recent books, music and films. We’re looking for pieces that can give our readers a good idea of what the work entails in terms of plot, genre, themes or ideas. Recently published material will be prioritized along with small or independent publishers, Canadian publications, and/or by authors based in Waterloo Region.
Older works are also considered based on the pitch. It should ideally be a more reflective piece on the impact of the work on a societal or personal level.
Opinion
We hear you. You have strong feelings about a topic or issue in the community, and the talking heads keep repeating the same tired lines over and over again. Pitch us your take on the issue.
Other
Have an idea or project that you’re not quite sure we would publish? It never hurts to ask. This page can only cover so much, and we do appreciate out of the box thinking. Drop us a line and we will let you know if we’re interested. We can sort out details as we go along.
Fiction submissions: TBD
