This is an American history magazine for children ages 9-14 from Cricket Media. They are currently accepting queries on two themes: Presidential Elections, and Civil War: Reconstruction. Articles should have historical accuracy and lively, original approaches to the subject at hand – they publish features (in-depth non-fiction, plays, first-person accounts, and biographies), and supplemental non-fiction (subjects directly and indirectly related to the theme — editors like little-known information but encourage writers not to overlook the obvious). They also publish fiction (authentic historical and biographical fiction, adventure, and retold legends relating to the theme), activities (crafts, recipes, woodworking, or any other interesting projects that can be done either by children alone or with adult supervision), theme-related poetry, as well as puzzles and games. The query deadlines are 1 September 2019 for Presidential Election, and 1 October 2019 for Civil War: Reconstruction. Details here.
The Victorian Writer: Writers Victoria 30th Birthday Issue
The Victorian Writer is the in-house magazine of Australia-based Writers Victoria. They accept both pitches and submissions, and for the Writers Victoria 30th Birthday Issue will have ‘pearls’ of wisdom, and more. They accept non-fiction, articles, and extracts of up to 2,000 words. Commissions are AUD150-250, though rates can vary with each issue’s budget. The deadline for this issue is 27 August 2019. Details here.
BizEd: The Era of Digital Transformation
This award-winning magazine publishes work on global business education, including insights, trends, and innovations in teaching and learning, research and insights, and running the academic enterprise. They accept three kinds of articles: those that detail a program, approach, or initiative at a school that could serve as a model for other schools facing similar challenges – articles must offer useful information and guidance to readers at other business schools, not just celebrate a business school and its programs; those written by deans, faculty, or thought leaders about trends in business or business education that could have a widespread impact on the industry; and those that provide empirical data that highlight important trends in business education. Features are about 1,500-3,000 words, and departments are shorter. For ‘The Era of Digital Transformation’ theme their guidelines say: “‘Digital transformation’ has become the latest goal of organizations, but how is digital transformation defined? To what extent is it changing business practice? And what does it mean to business education? We look at the ways business schools are responding to this emerging trend in their programs.” The submission deadline for features is 13 September and for departments, it is 9 October 2019. They also say that writers should not feel constrained by the editorial calendar. Details here and here.
Travel + Leisure: Destination of the Year
This premier travel magazine from Meredith Corporation does not issue writers’ guidelines, but they do have an email address where writers can send ideas or pitches. According to their editorial calendar, the theme for December 2019 is ‘Destination of the Year’. Details here and here.
Broadview: Christmas; Wellness: Mental Health; Preserving Canada’s Indigenous Rock Art
This award-winning Canadian magazine, founded in 1829, has an audience of progressive Christians. They want writing about spirituality, ethical living, social justice and the United Church. Stories should target the interests and ethos of their readers — human rights and social issues, spirituality and faith, inspiring human interest stories, the environment, culture and mental health. They can be investigative features, engaging profiles, first-person narratives, reported news stories, essays, photo essays, opinion pieces, blogs, interviews or reviews of books or film. They plan print issues about six months in advance and online stories anywhere from days to weeks in advance. They only rarely cover events. They almost never publish fiction, and only accept poetry from published poets. They receive review suggestions, but usually only commission reviews for upcoming books, movies, podcasts and exhibits. For their December 2019 issue, the theme is ‘Christmas’; and for January/February 2020, the themes are ‘Wellness: Mental Health’, and ‘Preserving Canada’s Indigenous Rock Art’. Details here and here.
Planning Magazine: The Preemption Paradox; Inclusive Cities
This magazine of the American Planning Association has detailed writers’ guidelines and they want writers to query first. They publish news and analyses of events in planning, including suburban, rural, and small town planning, environmental planning, neighborhood revitalization, economic development, social planning, and urban design. They publish features (usually 2,500 words), short news stories, book reviews, news about APA activities and members, viewpoint essays, and news of projects in the works. The November 2019 issue theme is ‘The Preemption Paradox: Balancing local planning goals, state mandates, and federal legislation’, and for Planning Practice, the theme is ‘Paying for Affordable Housing’. For December 2019, the theme is ‘Inclusive Cities: Placemaking with women in mind’, and for Planning Practice, the theme is ‘Engaging minority youth’. They do not pay for articles by practicing planners, attorneys, or university faculty members. For others, fees are worked out individually, usually $100-1,000, and $50-300 for photographs and drawings. Details here and here.
Bright Wall/Dark Room: Second Acts
This online magazine offers a different lens on film: no hot takes, hype, movie news, clickbait, “content,” pop-ups, or ads. They explore the relationship between movies and the business of being alive. They are looking for thoughtful analysis and wholehearted engagement, as opposed to standard reviews, or hot takes. They publish interviews, profiles, formal analysis, cultural criticism, personal essays, and humor pieces. They tend to publish critical essays between 1,500-3,000 words, though they also publish work that is shorter or longer. Creative approaches are always encouraged. For the ‘Second Acts’ submission call their guidelines say, “Now we all know F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “there are no second acts in American lives.” What our October issue presupposes is…maybe there are?” They pay $50 and the deadline for this theme is 31 August 2019. They also welcome pitches or unsolicited essay submissions of any length, on any film or television related topic that are unrelated to the theme issue. Details here.
Pizza Today: Independent Pizzeria of the Year; Hot 100 Independents & the Top 100 Companies
This award-winning trade magazine for the pizza business does not publish writers’ guidelines, but they do give contact details of their editorial team. The theme for their October issue is ‘Independent Pizzeria of the Year’ and for November, it is ‘Hot 100 Independents & the Top 100 Companies’. Also see their website, Pizzatoday.com which publishes news, departments, and recipes. Details here and here.
Tribal College Journal: STEM
This is the journal of American Indian higher education. They seek longer (2,500-3,000) and shorter features (2,000 words), though writers should send a 100-word abstract first to query. All feature articles must involve tribal colleges in some way. Possible feature article topics are listed, but alternative topics on each theme are welcome. For Spring 2020, they are reading work on STEM. Their guidelines say, “Now more than ever, the STEM fields and related programming are proliferating at tribal colleges and universities. What are some of the new innovative programs and curricula at TCUs? What sorts of career opportunities are available for STEM graduates? How do TCUs infuse Indigenous culture into STEM courses?” The rate of payment depends on various factors, and there is no payment for Research or Voices articles. The deadline for feature story suggestions is 6 September 2019 and the features deadline is 18 October 2019. For On Campus news shorts, the deadline is 25 October 2019. Details here and here.
This magazine publishes Australian and international writers, featuring a mix of essays, memoir, reportage, short fiction, poetry and visual essays. For ‘Matters of Trust’ their guidelines say, “From our first experiences to our last, institutions structure our world – through education and medicine to politics, justice, civics and religion. But in recent years even the most entrenched of institutions are seemingly on the edge of implosion. Either through deliberate political attacks or as an effect of wider disruption, new social forces have issued a comprehensive challenge to the established order.
Does this new uncertainty mark a profound loss of trust in how our society is organised and how it operates? Might this be an opportunity for thorough-going reform to regain lost legitimacy, or does it mark an end-point for a social structure that is no longer tenable in the twenty-first century? Can institutions adapt? Can trust be rebuilt? Or will new forms of social organisation eventuate from this gathering sense of crisis?” They want work “that reveals the ways our institutions are transforming, reshaping, renewing. We seek work that explores the change that is already underway, and what needs to happen next so our economic and social systems can meet the needs of a future society that is shaping up to be radically different from our own.” They want completed submissions, not queries, and the deadline is 1 September 2019. Details here and here.
Sunset Magazine: Holidays & Entertaining
This magazine covers travel and recreation, gardening and outdoor living, food and entertaining, as well as home design, remodelling, and projects. They cover the 13 Western US states, as well as British Columbia and Mexico. Their largest freelance need is travel articles, more for shorter items and one-two page pieces rather than features. For November/December, the theme is ‘Holidays & Entertaining’ for both the print and digital issues. Details here, here and here.
Motherwell: Friendship and Parenting
This publication accepts work on a variety of parenting-related themes—culture, family life, obstacles and the process of overcoming them. They are launching an essay series, ‘Friendship and Parenting’. The guidelines say, “We are looking for fresh perspectives, up to 1,400 words, that tackle all the ways in which these two powerful and pervasive relationships intersect. Interpretations might include: how you handle your tween’s toxic friendship; how your new moms’ group saved your sanity; how friendships sometimes don’t survive different approaches to parenting; how existing friendships can change when one person is a parent and one isn’t. We are open to a range of styles. This is a paid opportunity, completed essays only.” The deadline for these themed essays is 1 September 2019. They also pay for general parenting-related personal pieces and perspective essays (1,200 words), while shorter pieces and alternative formats, including videos, graphic memoirs, lists etc. are unpaid. Details here and here.
Hold the Line Magazine: When We Gather
This magazine’s editorial goals are to cover parenting and race and racism, LGBTQ life, food insecurity, ways to teach children about consent, gender norms, and additional topics will be addressed as they arise. For their sixth issue, they want pieces on the theme of ‘When We Gather’. Their guidelines say, “How do we thrive in a community? When has relying on others provided you with resources or advice that aided in your socially conscious parenting? What special group has changed your outlook on life? What do you do when you don’t have a safe place to discuss concerns?” They accept both pitches and completed articles, and their pieces aim to be solution-based. They also publish poetry and short stories, and will not publish work that does not fall under the umbrella of parenthood and social justice. Pay ranges from $10 to $75, and photos fetch $15 each. They are reading work now for their sixth issue. Details here.
Geez: Hospitality
The Geez project is “a discussion among people of faith seeking social justice. Our readers and writers express this through art, activism, contemplation and a “more-grounded, inter-connected” approach to living.” It does not assume a church insider audience. They have detailed guidelines for this issue. The pieces can be about several things, including when you had an unexpected visitor or a surprising host; or that moment, personally or politically, when an act of hospitality had unforeseen consequences for good or ill; or unique places hospitality is happening to combat capitalism; or the historical tradition of the Catholic Worker movement. They also want recipes. They will accept long-form journalism, personal stories of transformation, short bursts of feelings, nuggets of insight, and inspiration. They want pitches for longer non-fiction pieces (650-1,300 words), flash non-fiction (50-350 words), and photos/illustrations. Writers are paid a modest honorarium. The pitch deadline is 10 August 2019. Details here and here.
Disegno: Autumn
This is a leading quarterly journal dedicated to long-form independent reporting and critical writing on design. They publish reportage, photoessays, profiles, critical discussion, interviews, reviews and roundtables. They cover design, architecture, fashion, urbanism, graphics and technology, and provide political commentary, academic analysis, arts photography and discussion of current affairs for a design-interested audience. The deadline for pitches for their Autumn issue is 15 August 2019 (the receive online pitches any time). Details here.
Free Webinar:
Launch Your Writing Career Without a Portfolio
Get a roadmap for launching a freelance blogging career from scratch – without any previous publishing experience.
