Write for Us!
We welcome articles, letters, photography, illustrations, cartoons, etc, from anyone who lives in, has connections with, or is able to write with authority about the neighbouring communities of Balerno, Currie, Juniper Green, Baberton Mains, and/or Colinton.
Although issues now regularly consist of 48 pages, available editorial space can be tight; we therefore retain the right to edit submissions as necessary.
If you haven’t contributed to C&B News before, please get in touch with the editor first to ensure that what you want to write about isn’t something already being covered by someone else.
© Copyright
You will always retain ownership of your articles and photography. However, submission of any material to C&B News will be taken as permission for us to publish your contributions in both our print and digital editions.
Articles published by C&B News may also be republished by The Scottish Beacon, the collaborative network of independent local and hyperlocal newsrooms of which C&B News is a founding member.
Do please let us know if any aspect of your submission has been created by someone else, and that you have their permission to use it. This is particularly the case of photographs—just because a picture is freely available online doesn’t mean it’s actually free to use.
Deadlines
Submission deadlines for forthcoming editions are listed here.
Please consider these deadlines sancrosanct; we have made commitments to deliver each issue on specific dates to our printer, our advertisers and – of course – our readers.
Submitting your article even just a few days after the listed deadline will likely mean your work will be first-in-line for the next edition. That may be too late for you—especially if you’ve missed our July/August, and December/January issues.
Types of articles
C&B News publishes a range of articles:
• NEWS STORIES: (150-300 words) These should ideally be written in the third person and from an impartial/objective perspective.
We are happy to include reports of local group meetings in our “Local Updates” pages, which round off the news pages each issue.
Ideally accompanied by a photograph or three.
• FEATURES: (400-600 words). Occasionally less time-specific, but nevertheless still relevant; these can be written in a more informal (or first person) style, but still in continuous English—please avoid using bullet points or particularly “imaginative” formatting.
Ideally accompanied by a photograph or three.
• COMMENT: (300-600 words) C&B News is happy to carry opinion pieces – from either individuals or organisations –within its “Views” section. We already give space to local politicians and representatives of the local Community Councils.
• LETTERS: (up to 400 words) You must include your name and which “village” you live in, but we may agree not to publish those details. We do not publish anything submitted anonymously.
Please…
• …submit all articles as either an attached Word file or as text pasted within the body of your email.
• …include a byline (your name, as you would like it to appear in the paper: eg, Jane Smith) and your affiliation (eg. Balerno Bowling Club, Currie Resident, etc).
• …list contact details, event listings information or other “calls to action” at the end of your article. We can highlight the information more easily, making it simpler for readers to find.
• …keep website URLs as short as possible, since many interested readers will have to type them manually from the print edition. Use services such as tiny.url or bit.ly to create shorter URLs. (Warning: if you don’t, WE WILL!)
• …feel free to submit a relevant QR Code and we will endeavour to include it.
Photographs
C&B News has greatly benefited from the now near-ubiquity of digital cameras, and we encourage contributors to always submit at least one picture with any article.
Please attach photographs as individual image files; DO NOT embed them into a Word document or pdf, etc.
If you fear the files will be too big to email, please use a free file-transfer service like WeTransfer, Dropbox or Google Drive.
Whenever possible, let us know the name of the photographer, so we can credit them on the page.
It is also helpful if you can list any individuals (age 13 or older) depicted in the photographs—normally from left to right, top to bottom. Regarding children under 13, please confirm you have the permission of their parent/guardian/care-giver for us to publish their image in the magazine.
Style Guide
Regarding spelling, formatting and grammar, C&B News largely (though not exclusively) follows the Style Guide published by The Guardian newspaper, as it’s among the most comprehensive, detailed, and easily accessible out there.
This isn’t about The Guardian being “right” or “wrong” on such matters; it’s simply about ensuring consistency across a publication which, on average, relies on around 50 different contributors each issue.
It would help the editor immensely if you could follow these guidelines, regardless of how you personally format things.
Any more questions?
Please email Paul Fisher Cockburn via editor@candbnews.com