By S. Kalekar
These are calls for non-fiction pitches and submissions. A few also accept other genres, like fiction and poetry. Some of the themes are: health; cruise experientials/mistakes/tips; drink and gathering; on the money; beginnings and endings (for cinema); working the land; rare books and ephemera; erosion of rights; AI; and when science meets culture.
National Geographic: Health, credible wellness/fitness trends, and more
A digital editor for National Geographic has issued a detailed pitch call: “I specialize in health, credible wellness/fitness trends, and odd and/or this is not the first time in history pieces. Prioritize timely, widely relevant stories over evergreen or super-niche topics … I need fleshed out story ideas. These science/health pitches need peer reviewed scientific research, reputable data, scholarly insight…etc.” See the detailed pitch call / thread here.
Business Insider
The Lifestyle / Entertainment editor for Business Insider has issued a pitch call: “Looking for pitches on the following topics: –Amtrak travel –Cruise experientials/mistakes/tips –Traveling with grandparents Rates start at $200 for 600 words // no deadline to get in touch // submit via DM or the pitch form in my bio”. The pitch form is here, for Lifestyle pitches. See the call here.
Food & Feeling Zine: Drink and Gathering
Food & Feeling is a Substack-based project. They’re reading for their third issue, and the theme is Drink and Gathering. They have detailed guidelines, including, “the drinks that anchor our rituals, inspire our stories, and shape our connections. Drinks can celebrate beginnings and soften endings, toast successes and mend heartaches. They can be communal or solitary, comforting or chaotic. Sometimes, it’s less about the drink itself and more about what it brings out—the memories, the stories, the conversations.
Some potential ideas are: a personal essay on the first drink you ever had—when and where, what happened to you and the people around you. A memory of sharing your first drink with your parents—what kind of drink, what kind of food, and what kind of moment was it? A cultural exploration of the tea ceremony at a traditional wedding.” They accept “personal essays, cultural commentary, memoirs, poetry, short stories, flash fiction, interviews, creative recipes, and reviews” as well as other formats (see guidelines). “Bring us something surprising—something that blends the personal with the historical, the funny with the thoughtful, or the deeply intimate with the communal.” The submission deadline is 31 August 2025. They pay $5 to $20. Details here.
Griffith Review: On the Money
Griffith Review is an Australian literary magazine and they want submissions of nonfiction and fiction; the theme for this issue is, On the Money. “Money talks – but it doesn’t always speak the truth. It’s also far more than a medium of exchange and a store of value: money is a status symbol, a friendship destroyer, an opportunity creator, a psychological blocker, an obsession, a dream, a curse, an albatross and an elephant in the room.
And if money makes the world go round, it’s spinning us faster than ever these days. Do we stand any chance of bridging the wealth gap? How does money influence our behaviour? What part does it play in the erosion of democracy and institutional trust? Should financial literacy be taught in schools? And does anyone actually understand crypto?
This edition of Griffith Review follows the money to tally the past, present and future of our filthy lucre.” They mostly accept work from writers in Australia, and some work from overseas writers. Length guidelines are up to 4,000 words. Pay is AUD0.75/word. The deadline is 24 August 2025 (see guidelines). Details here and here.
Play the Game: Sports integrity and governance
Play the Game is an initiative run by the Danish Institute for Sports Studies (Idan) that promotes democratic values in world sports with an emphasis on freedom of expression, transparency, and open dialogue. You can read about them here. With a grant from the Danish government, they have issued a pitch call. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Play the Game invites journalists, writers, and investigative reporters worldwide to submit pitches for individual articles or investigations into topics related to sports integrity and governance.” The pitch deadline is 4th September 2025. Details here.
In the Mood Magazine: Beginnings and Endings
In the Mood is “a pop culture magazine about the things we like to watch. Published triannually, we delve into film, TV, music videos, and celebrity culture through essays, conversations, and unconventional forms of criticism like film diaries, poetry, and comics.” Submissions are open for their next issue, and the theme is, Beginnings and Endings: “What’s more unforgettable, and unattainable, than a Hollywood ending… maybe a Hollywood beginning? From first shots to last words, from directorial debuts to late style, we’re looking for experimental film and pop culture criticism on beginnings and endings.” Some topics and films they’d like to see pitches for include, but are not limited to: iconic opening or closing credits (Saul Bass, Enter the Void, Do The Right Thing, Good Time, Kiss Me Deadly, James Bond); novel end credit sequences: blooper reels, mid-credits scenes, failed stunts in Jackie Chan movies…; a filmmaker’s debut film or final film; Hollywood endings/happily ever afters; films that represent a cultural turning point, a beginning or end of a movement (Hayes Code, Hollywood’s ‘70s Golden Era, Canada’s Tax Shelter Years…). They prefer completed pieces (up to 1,000 words), though they also accept pitches. They pay CAD30. The deadline is 31 August 2025. Details here (scroll down).
Bright Wall / Dark Room: Teachers
They publish essays on film and television related topics. “For our next issue, we’re looking for essays on Teachers, in the broadest sense of the word. Movies about teachers, obviously, but also: professors, mentors, coaches, aspirational figures—or: movies that taught you something you’ve held close and true ever since. … In order to be considered for the issue we will need to receive a complete first draft of your essay via Submittable by August 15, 2025.” They pay $50. They’re also reading unthemed submissions; there is no deadline for those. Details here.
Novellum Magazine: Holiday
“Novellum Magazine was founded to fill a void in the literary world by combining quality literature with pop-culture elements appealing to a broader and more modern audience. Our publication serves as a platform for unique writers and illustrators to showcase their work free from the constraints of academic elitism.” You can read about them here. Apart from articles (writing and editing tips, feature stories, op-eds, and pop-culture stories, of 1,500-3,000 words), they accept fiction (including for children and graphic novels) and poetry (see the submission form on this page.) They’re reading submissions for their fourth issue, and the theme is Holiday. Payment will be discussed on acceptance. The deadline is 15 September 2025. Details here and here.
IHRAM Press Publishes: Life with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses
This magazine is a project of International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) and they publish on a quarterly schedule, with different social justice themes. For this quarter, they are “Shining a light on life with disabilities and invisible illnesses, this edition raises awareness of the societal attitudes and injustices faced by the disabled community. It explores the impact on identity, memory, and sexuality while advocating for understanding and inclusivity.
We are eager to publish firsthand experiences by those living with a disability, reflections of the author’s personal experiences with societal justices towards illnesses, and the after-effects of discrimination on an author’s identity and sexuality.” Apart from essays (up to 2,500 words), they accept poetry, short stories, and art. They pay $50 for written work. The submission deadline is 31 August 2025. Details here.
Art UK: Drawings
Their website says, “Art UK’s mission is to open up public (art) collections (in the UK) for enjoyment, learning and research.” Their commissioning editor has issued a pitch call: “Our funding for stories about DRAWINGS comes to an end in a few months – get in touch now with pitches to write for @artukdotorg.bsky.social”. According to their general pitch guide, pitches must reference some of the 600,000 artworks in the Art UK database; and stories can be anywhere from around 800 to 1,800 words (Art UK will advise when commissioning). … we recommend building your pitch around the available artwork images. As a rough guide, we will want to show a relevant image approximately every 200 words.” They pay £250. See the pitch call / thread (includes work they have published in the past) here, and their general pitch guide is here.
Orion: Working the Land
Their tagline is, Nature and Culture. They’re accepting nonfiction pitches for their “Spring 2026 Labor Issue: Working the Land. Send us your ideas on the intersection between labor and the more-than-human world—animal rights, working creatures, and models of collectivity in nature. We can offer $1000 for a full-length feature. Please keep all pitches to 500 words or less.” Their features usually run at 1,000-6,000 words, “comprising and often combining a variety of genres and formats: essay, memoir, reporting, science writing, criticism, fiction, and comics. More than any particular angle or theme, we value work that expands or challenges our understanding of nature, culture, and place, reflecting thoughtful experiences with diverse surroundings.” The pitch deadline is 15 August 2025. Pitching is via a form. Details here and here.
(And, Orion will open for whale-themed pitches in the fall.)
Type Investigations
They accept investigative journalism pitches from reporters in the United States; they also accept pitches from outside the US, but your pitch must have a clear and direct US tie-in. They are specially interested in pitches on the following topics:
– The erosion of rights
– Political influence and corporate malfeasance
– Climate change and environmental justice
“Written features generally run between 3,000 and 5,000 words — though we do publish articles that are shorter and longer. Typical budgets range from $3,000 to $6,000(including travel and other reporting expenses, as well as the reporting fee) and are based on the submission of a detailed reporting plan. … When stories are published, we expect partner outlets to pay reporters their normal article fee as well.” See their guidelines here.
Reckoning: Communication
Reckoning magazine publishes work on environmental justice. They’re reading submissions broadly around the Communication theme, for their 10th issue. “What brought us to this? How do those of us who grasp the direness of our situation—as a species, as a global community—convey or fail to convey that to others? These are dauntingly complex questions, and it’s clear the familiar solutions fall catastrophically short. Show us new answers, new framings. Reach for the weird tools, the neglected ones. Show us how journalism should work. Tell us stories about stories. Illuminate the economic structures behind our educational institutions and the walls against understanding that dog our international borders. Interpret the data for us, then interpret the interpreters. Let’s crack open the ways knowledge is produced and spread amid late-stage capitalism.
We’re seeking art, poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction … in particular from Indigenous, Black, Brown, queer, trans, disabled, neurodivergent and/or otherwise marginalized writers and artists from everywhere.” Length guidelines are up to 15,000 words for prose, up to 10 pages for poetry. They pay $0.10/word for prose, and $50/poem. The submission deadline is 22 September 2025. Details here and here.
Modest: Connection to nature and with each other
This is a “publication and platform aims to be inclusive to everyone who takes part in modest fashion.” You can read about them here. Their third issue “will focus on the connection we have to nature and each other. As part of Earth what are the collective dreams we imagine for the future? For a better world?” Apart from garment/fashion design/craftsmanship pieces (articles about garment making, styling, mending, upcycling, or waste-led/zero-waste design) they publish fiction and non-fiction on the theme, as well as generational poetry, art, comics, photo essays, recipes, other visual media. Accepted submissions will be paid. The deadline is 1 September 2025. Details here.
Fine Books & Collections
“Fine Books & Collections covers a broad range of topics and subjects of interest to book collectors, dealers, librarians, curators, and bibliophiles, from early manuscripts to modern first editions and everything in between. The core of each article is an engaging narrative.” Their editor has issued a pitch call: “I’m always looking for new writers & ideas … Tell me your timely tales about rare books and ephemera”. Rates are $200-600, depending on length/reporting needs. See the pitch call / thread here. Their writers’ guidelines are here.
Prism: US imperialism and Palestine
Prism is “An independent and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of color.” They have issued a pitch call: “@prismreports.org revised our guidelines to allow writers & reporters to send pitches centering U.S. imperialism and Palestine, regardless of a direct U.S. angle, because the consequences of U.S. policy and imperialism are global.” Rates are $0.50-0.60/word. See the pitch call / thread here.
Mother Jones
An editor has issued a pitch call for Mother Jones: “I don’t normally edit @motherjones.com‘s culture writing, but please pitch me a good essay that makes coherent sense of the political discourse around Caitlin Clark, Sydney Sweeney, and Taylor Swift”. For online, rates start at $0.75 a word, and for print, rates start at $1.75 per word. See the pitch call here and Mother Jones’ guidelines for web and print here.
Green European Journal: What Culture and Democracy can do for each other
“The Green European Journal looks to two dimensions to guide its content: political ecology and Europe.” Their current pitch call says, “Our next edition will explore what Culture and Democracy can do for each other.” They have detailed guidelines for this call, including, “Pitches can revolve around (but don’t have to be limited to) four thematic pillars: Culture and the ecosocial transformation … Arts & culture and the European project … Facing the far right … AI, creativity, and imagination”. And, “We are open to any kind of format that works well on a printed page, from essays to interviews, photo essays, fiction, creative nonfiction, comics/graphic journalism, visual art, and more.” The pitch deadline is 5 September 2025. See their pitch call here. Their pitch guide for this theme is here and their general pitch guidelines are here.
Toronto Journal: Stories from the City
This is a journal in print and sound. They publish Stories from the City: non-fiction pieces that are set in and around the Greater Toronto Area. The fiction they publish is unthemed. They pay $50 for prose submissions up to 7,500 words. The deadline is 1st September 2025 for the Winter 2026 issue. Details here.
Scientific American: Psychology and Neuroscience
Scientific American “welcomes ideas for news, features, opinion and analysis articles on recent scientific discoveries, social and policy issues, technical innovations and overviews of impactful research.” An editor has issued a pitch call: “I edit mind & brain news at @sciam.bsky.social and I’m looking for psychology and neuroscience stories. I’m especially interested in consciousness science and linguistics.” See the pitch call here and their general pitch guidelines are here.
The Black Ordinary
This is a new magazine and they will soon publish their first issue. “The Black Ordinary welcomes pitches from artists, archivists, historians, researchers, and writers of all backgrounds and experience levels to pitch ideas for writing topics relevant to the preservation of Black-American* histories and culture.
*How we define “Black-American”: While the histories of the entire African diaspora are closely intertwined, The Black Ordinary’s work is centered on the histories and cultures of direct descendants of enslaved peoples forcibly brought to the modern-day United States from the continent of Africa via the transatlantic slave-trade. Please be mindful about whether this experience mirrors your own.” They will publish archive and collection highlights (curated selection of digitized archive materials, archivists writing about Black-American archives), essays and reviews of art exhibitions, performances, talks, screenings, conferences, public art, current ideas, artist books, or catalogs (see the guidelines in the pitch form for details), interviews, as well as poems, fiction, photo essays, hybrid and experimental writing. They pay $250. The deadline is 30 August 2025. Details here, here, and here.
BrainFacts.Org
They want pitches on stories around the brain and nervous system. They have detailed guidelines. BrainFacts.org “tells the story of scientific discoveries, the people behind them, and how it relates to our everyday lives. Knowing about the brain’s inner workings helps paint a better picture of the human experience that explores the universe between our ears. We’re looking for freelance science writers, journalists, and multimedia creators with a strong portfolio in science communication to pitch us story ideas about the brain and nervous system.” They are interested in these themes currently, and are also open to all neuro-related pitches.
— The Creative Brain
— Infection & Inflammation & The Brain
— Prediction & Decision Making
— The Brain & Interpersonal Connections
They assign stories of 500-1,200 words. “We pay a flat rate for assignments based on roughly a dollar (USD) per word. The fee per assignment depends on experience as demonstrated by your published bylines (your clips), format, anticipated word count, and the timeline for completion.” Details here.
Transformer: AI
Transformer is a Substack-based newsletter — “Transformer is your weekly briefing of what matters in AI, specifically targeted at policymakers and people interested in AI policy.” You can read about them here. Their editor is looking for pitches. “Hello, reporters, writers and commentators covering AI. I’m commissioning pieces for Transformer and I would love to hear from you!” And, “The key driving principle is what’s on our about page: “That AI is a very big deal, that we need to regulate it, and that we need more scrutiny on the powers at play.” We’ll be updating that soon but the central thrust will be the same. No other philosophies affect our commissioning.” See the pitch call here.
Betches: Trending news, internet culture, and more
“Betches is a multimedia brand developed and run for women, by women.” You can read about them here. An editor has issued a pitch call; they want “pitches on thought-provoking, conversation-starting stories about trending news, internet culture, friendship, and sharp social commentary. Rate dependent on angle/details ($250-$500 range).” See the pitch call here.
Scientific Inquirer: Exploring the Nexus – When Science Meets Culture
Their pitch call says, “Scientific Inquirer is seeking cultural critics to explore where science meets society. Got sharp insights and fresh ideas?” They pay $50. See the pitch call here and their brief general pitch guide here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.