Pitching to The International
If you would like to write for The International, we’d love to hear from you. Anyone is welcome to pitch articles to us, and should use the email address [email protected] in order to contact our editor-in-chief. We are not currently able to pay contributors, just as The International staff is not remunerated for their work.
When submitting your pitch, please include either a suggested headline or a concise description of your article in the subject line. There is no need to include a fully-written article with your pitch – a few paragraphs outlining your idea will suffice perfectly.
Please keep in mind that there are generally three types of articles which we run on The International: explainers, reported features, and opinion articles. Please specify which category your pitch falls under.
For explainers, we are looking for around 800 to 1,000 words focused on a newsworthy issue that you feel needs to be examined and explained from a non-sensationalist perspective. For example, in September 2020 we looked at the then-escalating conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. These articles will unpick an issue and deepen a reader’s understanding, leaving them better informed the next time it fleetingly crops up during the 24-hour news cycle.
For reported features, we are looking for slightly longer articles at about 1500 words that take a swing at the defining issues of our time that affect people across borders, such as immigration, democracy in decline, or climate change. Features should:
- Be timely, as in relevant to current political trends, developments and events but with no fixed end date,
- tell human stories,
- be thoroughly reported, meaning you need to go interview some folks,
- and it’s a plus if you are able to contribute visual elements.
For opinion articles, we don’t want to become a home for purposefully inflammatory or aggressively provocative op-eds. If we publish an explicitly opinionated article, it will be because the author has researched their chosen topic, considered both sides, and has made a well-reflected and persuasive argument. For example, in January 2021 we published a piece condemning the EU’s vaccine nationalism. Opinion pieces should hit roughly 800 words.
As for the tone and content of your article, please keep in mind the aims and values of The International. We exist as a safe port in the maelstrom of 24-hour news. That’s not to say we will shy away from controversial or hot-button topics, but we will always approach those topics with a reflective, analytical, and objective mindset. Your article should do the same.
Unfortunately, we are unable to offer a fee to any of our writers at this time. We aim to one day be in a position to compensate contributors for their work, but for now The International is not monetised – we have no ads, and we don’t charge a fee to our readers. We anticipate that, as we grow, we will be able to start offering compensation to our writing staff and freelancers. It is a home for great writing from passionate writers trying to break into the field of journalism. We sincerely hope that your article will be a part of that, and that we can be in a position to compensate our writers in the near future.
In the meantime, we’ll look forward to hearing from you.