Guidelines for Writer Submissions

Thank you for your interest in edible Ottawa.

We are a member of Edible Communities, a growing, award-winning series of community-based food publications whose mission is to transform the way communities shop for, cook, eat, and relate to the food that is grown and produced in their area. 

WRITER GUIDELINES

edible Ottawa is a conversation for people who are passionate about food—and want to know more. We provide our savvy, connected, community-minded readers with information about Eastern Ontario and Western Québec's colorful cuisine, the untold stories, hidden talents and in-depth looks at our local food advocates, producers, culture and challenges. We rely on freelance writers who write in a lively, elegant, informative, accurate and interesting manner for the majority of our feature stories and some departments. 

FEATURES
Article length varies depending upon topic but usually ranges between 800 - 2000 words. Topics could include an in-depth exploration of a specific local ingredient, a farm, a farmer or chef profile or a food-related experience, individuals and organizations inuencing the local food movement.

PAYMENT
We negotiate payment terms on an individual basis and pay on publication. edible Ottawa pays for first time rights to publication. Ownership of published articles and recipes reverts to the author after the current issue expires, but edible Ottawa retains the right to reproduce all or partial versions of commissioned work, including on ediblecommunities.com and its other outlets and materials.

SCHEDULE
Stories are assigned approximately 2 to 6 months in advance of publication date. edible Ottawa is published six times a year:

• January
• March
• May
• July
• September
• November

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

PITCHING STORIES
We want to know: What will the focus of your article be? Will readers laugh, cry, change their attitudes or learn something new? Who are you planning to interview?

Here is a checklist of the type of information we’re looking for in your pitch:

• Indicate the issue or season
• Focus and subject matter
• Word count
• Department or feature
• Recipe or photos included

RECIPES & PHOTOS
When appropriate to the story, we wish for original and carefully tested recipes to accompany articles. If recipes are not original, the submitter must obtain permission to reprint. Likewise, please cite all sources for information in the article, and if passages from published (including web published) material are included, obtain permission for use. We also desire high quality, high resolution photographs to accompany the articles. We do not expect writers to personally take photos to accompany stories, but some of our writers are also talented photographers and like to provide images as well.