Pitching guidelines for UK publications
Magazines, websites and news platforms all looking for your pitches.
Looking for somewhere to pitch your ideas? Here’s a collection of bang up-to-date pitching guidelines for publications based in the UK. I hope you find a brilliant home for your writing.
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Art UK - “Art UK is always seeking pitches about diverse or underrepresented subjects, for example, stories relating to women artists, LGBTQ+ history, Black history... we also commission writers on a freelance basis on the terms described below. Anyone is welcome to pitch an idea – especially writers from underrepresented backgrounds.”
Backstory - “It is not a highbrow literary journal, but a lively, playful books mag that bursts with colour, designed to be cherished by people who love good books and great bookshops.”
Climate Change News - “All stories must have a climate change angle and an international outlook. While our coverage is informed by scientific evidence, our editorial focus is on the political, economic and social dimensions of the climate crisis.”
Club Oenologique - “Our contributors are some of the best-known experts in wine and spirits – but we’re also on the lookout for new voices and are keen to commission writers of all backgrounds.”
The Conversation - “We only work with academics or researchers at universities and qualifying research institutes, writing within their field of professional expertise.”
Cosmopolitan - “We’re passionate about surfacing stories from a diverse range of people, using our brand to highlight underrepresented voices and topics in particular.”
DAZED - “Dazed Digital is “where pop culture meets the underground”. We pride ourselves on publishing high-quality reported features, irreverent opinion pieces, in-depth explainers, Q&As with exciting people, and cultural criticism for our audience of engaged, creative and discerning young people from all around the world.”
The Detail - “The Detail is looking for investigations and features focused on Northern Ireland and border issues, covering the environment, immigration, housing, criminal justice, health, education, and wider social injustice. Stories on underreported topics are also welcome.”
Edinburgh Enquirer - “We are looking to commission stories from talented writers and reporters who are based in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife or have a particular interest in or special knowledge of some aspect of city life.”
Empire - “We are always looking for exciting, original pitches.”
The Fence - “There’s space, as ever, for humour, and we are always keen to cover the whole breadth of the UK and Ireland.”
The Ferret - “We’re seeking exclusive stories on issues affecting the public in Scotland. These can be based on new data, numbers or information but they must tell people something new. We’re also keen to highlight human interest stories and produce longform storytelling.”
Girls on Tops - “A celebration of female voices in film.”
Horizon Guides - “We work with leading travel journalists, guidebook authors and other destination experts to provide insider recommendations about places that the mainstream tourism industry doesn’t want to talk about.”
Huck - “We celebrate and explore independent culture; people and movements that paddle against the flow. We publish news, profiles, interviews, reportage, opinion pieces and photo essays across digital and print. We also commission original documentaries and films.”
i-D - “i-D are always on the lookout for new writers and voices. But we’re also always learning how to democratise and be totally transparent with our pitching process.”
The Infatuation - “We’re on a mission to create the most trustworthy and useful restaurant recommendation platform. While we have full-time writers across more than a dozen cities in the US and London, we’re also accepting pitches from freelance writers to expand our coverage throughout the US and around the world.”
The Journal, Curzon - “We publish articles, think pieces, filmmaker interviews and more, both for our own films and other distributors’ releases showing in our cinemas.”
Little White Lies - “Covering both mainstream and independent cinema from all around the world.”
The Londoner - “There’s one crucial factor we think about when considering pitches: publishing work which is engrossing, exciting and fun to read — even if the topic is serious.”
London Spy - “We’re open to most things, so long as it’s something most Londoners can get their teeth into. Housing, environment, politics, culture, transport, crime, business, history, education, health. Or just something really weird.”
Men’s Health - “We want your news-led and human-interest features, we want your profiles and we want pitches that are fresh, relevant and timely.”
Mill Media - “A great read can take many different forms: it could tell a gripping narrative. Your proposed piece might make a compelling argument which hasn’t been put forward before.”
Mslexia - “Journalism pitches for articles and interviews are welcome at any time.”
New Scientist - “We are looking for science and technology stories from around the world that will intrigue, entertain and inform the widest possible audience, be they physicists, biologists or people with no science background at all.”
Pit - “Pit is a magazine that celebrates the diversity of the food world, and the people who work within it. We work to a set of core values that centre around accessibility, diversity, quality and, very often, FUN.”
Plinth - “The Plinth magazine wants to open up London’s visual art scene and contemporary culture in ways that intrigue and resonate with a broad audience.”
Positive News - “Positive News publishes good journalism about good things. We’re seeking unique pitches for the next quarterly print edition of Positive News magazine and, on an ongoing basis.”
Prospect - “Smart, ideas-led writing on politics, culture, economics and anything else that might reasonably come under the broad rubric of “current affairs.”
Sight and Sound, BFI - “We aim to publish the best quality, most probing and insightful writing on cinema and TV.”
The Skinny - “an independent cultural magazine based in Edinburgh, Scotland.”
Stylist - “All our features have a timely reason for appearing in the magazine and online, as well as a strong feminist angle.”
Wellcome Collection - “We publish stories about health and human experience written by a wide range of storytellers.”
WIRED UK - “WIRED is a a publication about change—about the ways science and technology are reshaping the world and what it means to be human.”
I'm Sian Meades-Williams. I'm a freelance writer, author and poet and I was the winner of the 2022 Yeovil Literary Prize. My book The Pyjama Myth: the Freelance Writer's Survival Guide will make you a better, happier freelancer and it’s out now.
Best of luck with your pitches this week!