Submission Guidelines

The Chicago Journal is a general interest digital publication focused on the political, cultural, and economic life of Chicago and the surrounding metro area. This page covers writing, photography, and video submissions.

For Letters to the Editor or other business, see our Contact page.

A Plain Note on Payment

We do not currently pay for submissions.

That will limit who can write for us. We know it. The Journal is being rebuilt, and the budget for freelance fees is not there yet. If you still have a piece that belongs here, and you want it published under those terms, we would like to read it. We will not pretend unpaid work is something else.

If that changes, we will update this page.

What We Consider

We consider pitches for reportage, analysis, opinion, essays, and criticism. A strong pitch names a clear story and gives readers a reason to care.

Study recent pieces at chicagojournal.com before you write.

How to Pitch

Email submissions@chicagojournal.com with QUERY in the subject line. No phone calls.

Keep the pitch between 200 and 300 words. Tell us what the story is, its scope, why it fits the Journal, and which sources or interview subjects you plan to use. Include your credentials if you have them. We read for writing skill and approach. Unknown authors are welcome.

We cannot reply to every query. If you have not heard back within one week, follow up once. If you have not heard back within two weeks, feel free to pitch elsewhere.

Writing Guidelines

Standard pieces usually run 800 to 2,100 words. Most often these are news analysis, opinion and commentary, essays, or criticism. We want deliberate, reasoned writing and a good story well told.

Interviews: detail your access, your angle, and contact information for the interviewee or their representation so we can confirm interest.

Reviews: focus on artistic work published or available within the last six months, with a reasonable chance it will still be available for about six months after we publish.

Features (investigations, long-form narratives, extensive analysis, longer essays, most often 2,500 words or more) should include clips of published work. Features are usually assigned to writers we already know. Independents are considered when you have unusual access or a clear prior relationship with the Journal. Do not pitch a feature unless one of those is true.

Photo and Video

We look for photographers, videographers, and artists working in the Chicago region on the issues we cover. We usually assign for stories already in motion. We consider photo stories that give an intimate look at communities or people doing something unusual. We rarely use unsolicited landscape or skyline-only images.

To pitch a photo story or introduce your work, email photos@chicagojournal.com with a link or a selection of images. We need high-resolution JPEGs at 300 dpi or higher. For larger files, use electronic transfer or a private web portfolio.

Include the credit name as it should appear, caption information (place or subject), and your name, address, and phone number for our files.

Publication includes the right to use the work on our website and other digital channels (including social and newsletters) and to archive it. Other commercial uses are negotiated separately. We may also display work with no fee and no rights held when we are only sharing or linking, especially on affiliated social accounts.

Rights and Editing

If we accept your work, we edit for clarity, accuracy, and Journal standards. We may decline a piece after acceptance if it no longer fits; we will tell you.

By submitting, you confirm the work is yours (or that you have the right to offer it), and that it has not been published elsewhere unless you say otherwise in the pitch.

Contact

Pitches: submissions@chicagojournal.com (subject: QUERY)

Photos / Video: photos@chicagojournal.com

Letters to the Editor: see How to Submit Letters to the Editor