Guidelines for Pitching The Tyee

The Tyee is an award-winning online magazine of news, ideas and solutions focused on British Columbia, the wider bioregion known as Cascadia, and beyond. We encourage all prospective contributors to carefully read our stories before sending pitches to us.

For The Tyee, a high-quality pitch showcases the author’s talents in the pitch. We value unique, impactful stories with wide resonance.

We are particularly interested in work that reflects one or more of the following approaches:

• First-person accounts that bring expertise and lived experience together in relatable, impactful ways.
• Counter-intuitive positions that debunk accepted wisdom.
• Powerfully argued critical analysis that responds to a controversy.

We’re limited in the amount of freelance work we can support each season and the volume of pitches we receive exceeds what we can assign. We carefully review all submissions, and our decisions are informed by our existing editorial commitments with staff reporters and other contributors, editorial capacity and organizational priorities.

Please know that a rejected pitch is not always a reflection of the strength of the submission, nor the author’s skills or qualifications. Some excellent pitches are better suited for publications other than The Tyee.

We work to reflect the diversity of our region by publishing work that reflects the many ways diversity is experienced and understood. We welcome pitches from people underrepresented in the media, including but not limited to women, Indigenous people, Black people, people of colour, people of various gender identities, LGBTQ2S+ people and disabled people.

To submit work to The Tyee, please email your pitch to one of the following Tyee senior editors. Please do not send pitches to more than one editor simultaneously.

• Paul Willcocks, senior editor (Victoria, B.C.): pwillcocks[at]thetyee[dot]ca. Paul focuses on news and analysis. He’s looking for stories on the public policy issues that are critical to readers’ lives, from workers’ rights to the environment to inequality to housing to health.
• andrea bennett, senior editor (Powell River, B.C.): abennett[at]thetyee[dot]ca. andrea (they/them; Mx.) specializes in features and personal essays. They are looking for more stories on legal/justice reporting, specifically how religion influences culture and politics; and wildcards about quirky people, creatures or places. Favourite Tyee topics: Environment, Gender & Sexuality, Books
• Jackie Wong, senior editor (Vancouver, B.C.): jwong[at]thetyee[dot]ca. Jackie specializes in features, cultural commentary and analysis. She’s interested in social policy, racial equity, urban issues, health justice and the arts. She is the editor of The Tyee’s culture section, the Weekender, running Friday to Sunday nights. Favourite Tyee topics: Culture, Education, Gender & Sexuality, Health, Housing, Indigenous, Municipal Politics, Rights & Justice, Urban Planning & Architecture

Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to respond to every pitch. If you do not hear back from us in seven business days, we are unlikely to move forward with your proposal.

Story tips, press releases, corrections, complaints, praise, scorn and general coverage — and pitches where you’re unsure which editor is the best fit — should all be sent to editor[at]thetyee[dot]ca.

• A one-line pitch or headline: One of the most common things in pitch emails is pitching a topic instead of an angle. As in, “I want to write about greenhouse gas emissions in Vancouver.” A story pitch will have an angle to it, which might look more like: “A Stronger Electricity Grid Is Crucial to Cutting Carbon. Does that Make It Green?” Thinking of a recommended headline will help you clarify what your angle is. And we appreciate clear subject lines, such as: “[PITCH]: Headline here.”
• A scene or two, and quotes if appropriate: Convey experiences and voices you will share with the reader. Putting us there and letting us hear the words of those interviewed helps us better imagine the reader’s experience. It also demonstrates you’ve gained access to people and situations and have done some reporting. The same applies to reported features, reported essays or, possibly, analysis pieces.
• A clear and fresh hook: Whatever your story is about, it should be an angle that hasn’t been done before — or has a new angle specific to our audience. Why should our readers care? How does the issue impact them?
• Some sources you plan to speak to if any: If you’re planning on speaking to an expert or a resident of a neighbourhood you want to report on, include their name, who they are and what you hope your story will gain from speaking to them.
• Why it belongs in The Tyee and which section: There’s a million media outlets out there. Tell us why you’re choosing The Tyee for your story.
• Why you’re the best person to tell this story: Letting us know why you’re interested in writing this story — whether it’s because you have a personal stake in the issue or you have a ton of experience reporting on it — helps us understand what your reporting will look like.

Some general examples of stories The Tyee publishes:

1. Reported coverage: Consisting of interviews, research and objective reporting of events. Here’s a pitch example, and here’s the resulting published piece.
   
2. Analysis: Consisting of interviews and/or research and a particular argument. Here’s a pitch example from the Open Notebook pitch database.
   
3. First-person: Can consist of interviews and research to support any argument, but mainly based on the writer’s experience. First-person essays should help our readers inhabit the experiences of others. Here’s a pitch example, and here’s the resulting published piece.
   

If you need more pitching inspiration, check out more examples from the very helpful Open Notebook pitch database or the Nieman Lab’s Storyboard.

How we’ll work together

Your pitch doesn’t have to be perfect. What we want is someone who has a clear story idea, and we’re happy to work together from there to workshop it if we see potential. Our editors are open to phone conversations to talk out angles and support you in the reporting process if need be.

Visuals

It always helps our editors if you have an idea of a suitable image to accompany your story. We run horizontal images for featured images, and can run additional body images of any ratio and orientation.

Payment

We pay our freelancers a day rate of $250. When we accept a pitch, we work with a freelancer to determine whether the story is a one-day, two-day, or three-day story. It is less common for us to assign stories above the three-day rate.