The Inspired Source Series: Aspiring Writers From Marginalised Groups – Send Us Your Pitches

Are you an aspiring journalist or writer from a community that is underrepresented in the media? Do you have ideas for how to address some of the human rights challenges the UK is currently facing? We would like to hear from you. 

At EachOther, we publish a wide-range of content – from in-depth long reads to practical explainers on what your rights are. Take a look at our website to get a sense of what we cover. 

We are currently looking to commission stories specifically for our new solutions-focussed opinion piece series called “The Inspired Source”.

This pilot series is part of our work to amplify voices that are underrepresented in the media and marginalised by society. This marginalisation could be due to multiple factors including, but not limited to, their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, geography or disability. 

Each piece will be about 400-600 words long and will examine a human rights issue they or their community is affected by and preferably have a position on how we might  begin to address it. The idea could be big or small. It could be broad or specific and detailed. Perhaps you believe a government policy should be introduced or scrapped. Or that media organisations should change the way they report on a certain issue. Or that society needs to reflect on how it treats a particular group of people. We’re not expecting you to come up with the answer but we believe that voices of people affected by issues must be heard when considering what might be needed. The piece should ideally be informed by your personal experience and must be well-evidenced with independent research. 

This is a brand new series, so we are likely to adapt and refine it as things progress. We recognise that it is not the first job of marginalised people to solve problems perpetuated by society at large. Enduring change will only come when those who benefit most from current structures take action. At the same time, we recognise the importance of highlighting lived experience in designing a better future. This series aims to offer a drawing board for that experience.  

So, the next question is payment?

A journalist writes notes in her notepad. Credit: Unsplash

As a small charity, we’ve not a lot of money kicking around but we are actively pursuing funding to increase our commissioning budget and offer more opportunities to write for us. As things stand, we are currently only able to commission about four of these pieces a month, and that really is a hard limit. 

This means we may end up commissioning your piece for use in a couple of months time. It also means that, even if we really like your idea, we might not always be able to say yes. Please don’t be offended, it’s purely about the amount of money in the bank account and we do hope to be able to commission more in the future.

In terms of cash, we will pay £100 for a ‘The Inspired Source’  opinion piece. As this series is aimed at early-career aspiring writers, we can also provide detailed feedback on your work by email or phone call to help you hone and develop your craft, if that is something you’d like from us. Please let us know if so when you send us your pitch. 

How to send us ideas?

Please send your ideas to editorial@eachother.org.uk 

In the subject line of the email include: “Submission for The Inspired Source” 

In the body of the email include the following:

• Your name,
• The community you feel you’re representing
• Your Twitter handle

Keep your pitch to no more than 300 words and answer the following headers:

• What is the human rights issue that you intend to write about?
• What is your idea for addressing it?
• What evidence will you draw upon in your piece?
• Why are you the person to write about this issue?

Deadline: Rolling

Process and next steps

We will assess our pot of submissions every week at an editorial meeting typically made up of Creative Director Sarah Wishart and News Editor Aaron Walawalkar and we will aim to get back to you within a week.

This story was updated to reflect the increase in fee paid for an Inspired Source and the rolling deadline of this project in August 2022.