Submissions

Waging Nonviolence has published more than 700 contributors in 90-plus countries, working with seasoned journalists, activists, organizers, academics and students. Writing experience is not a must since everything we publish goes through our collaborative, hands-on editorial process. The main thing we look for from prospective contributors is knowledge of movements and organizing.

Individuals are encouraged to send pitches with a 1-2 paragraph description of their story to pitches@wagingnonviolence.org. Do NOT send already completed drafts, as we prefer to work with writers from the idea stage. In general, pitches should address these basic questions:

• Why should we publish this story now? (particularly if there is no news hook)
• What is new about this story? (particularly if it is on a subject that has been widely covered or covered by us in the past)
• Why are you the one to write this story?
• Who and/or what will be your sources of information?

We want stories that offer readers an inside look at movements and how they organize to build power. This means stories should address questions of strategy and tactics, as much as they explain the issue(s) at stake. As for sources, we prefer to highlight the voices of organizers and activists from under-represented and traditionally marginalized communities — rather than government officials, corporate spokespeople, etc.

We are seeking several types of freelance stories:

Reported features – Timely, reported stories about current event issues, but with a focus on resistance and organizing and original quotes from multiple sources. (~1,500 words, see example)

Q&As – Interviews with key movement figures that are set up by a couple hundred word introduction. (~1,500 words, see example)

Reviews – Book, film, TV, theater or other art and culture reviews that relate to movements and organizing (~1,500 words, see example)

Analysis – Commentaries on current event issues with a resistance/organizing focus, typically written by organizers or close movement observers, relying more on history, personal experience or already published information than original reporting (word count varies, see short example and long example)

As a small nonprofit organization, Waging Nonviolence is only able to pay fixed rates: $200 for reported features and $100 for Q&A’s, reviews and analysis. We do make occasional exceptions for other types of stories, depending on the amount of research and preparation required.

Please note that we try to respond to all pitches, but that it may take up to a week.

Waging Nonviolence is committed to diversity and is especially interested in hiring and working with members of underrepresented communities, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.