Our collaborative’s mission is to cover solutions to pressing issues in our community. In other words, we’re not all about bad news. We help our readers and listeners see our communities from multiple perspectives and understand how decisions made by others affect their lives. Right now, we’re centered on caregiving and health equity. Please pitch stories only in those areas. We aim to place readers and listeners at the center of our coverage.
Want to contribute stories, photos or illustrations to our collaborative and our news partners? First, please take a look at our site to know what we’ve already covered. We’re interested in working with professional freelance journalists, independent writers, photographers and illustrators, as well as students who aspire to work in the news industry. All freelancers are expected to follow journalistic standards and code of ethics. When pitching, give us a brief synopsis of your background. If you’re not a professional journalist but have a story to share, drop us a line.
Rates: We pay writers, visual artists, photographers and multimedia journalists between $125 and $1,500 for story assignments, depending on the scope of the assignment and word count. The editor will make your rate clear at the onset of the assignment.
Writers: Because we are a solutions journalism collaborative supported in large part by the Solutions Journalism Network, writers who freelance for NYMI SOJO must take SJN’s virtual, one-hour Solutions Journalism 101 training before submitting their first assignment. Stories should incorporate the pillars of solutions journalism. Each writer will receive a $50 stipend for completing the training.
Story assignments: We’re looking for print, digital, audio and visual stories only on effective responses to the challenges of caregiving and health equity. Your finished story and/or photos may run in any, all or some of our partner media outlets.
Photography and illustrations: We’re always open to work from great photographers and illustrators. If you’re interested, email monica.williams@localmedia.org and include a link to your portfolio or examples of your work.
Pitching: Email your pitch to monica.williams@localmedia.org and include “editorial pitch” in the subject line. We accept pitches only via email. In a few paragraphs tell us your story idea, why our media partners’ readers will care, a few sources you plan to interview and why you are the one to write the story. We’d also like to see some links to your published work. We try hard to respond to all inquiries but if you haven’t heard back from us within two weeks, you should consider pitching elsewhere.
Our coverage area: We’re primarily focused on stories of interest to our readers and listeners in southeast Michigan and western New York but “solutions” can be worldwide.
Thanks for considering us! We look forward to the possibility of working with you.