Do you care about climate change and its impact on water? Do you feel passionate about writing stories that revolve around these aspects? If so, we are glad our perspectives align. Nextblue offers the right platform where your words could lead to deeper discussions and solutions.
Nextblue publishes constructive water and climate-related stories from a unique and local perspective. We invite you to join us in our mission, to initiate objective dialogues with your stories, so as to spur people to take action and make the world better.
Pitch Us
We accept pitches from anywhere in the world, through our pitch form. Within 10 days we will inform you of our decision.
Submission guidelines
- A feature story should be balanced and have a minimum of three quotes. Word count: 900 to 1,200 words.
- A photo essay should tell a story and have a minimum of 12 high resolution images. The captions should be submitted in a text file. How would it surprise and delight our readers? Who would write the copy to go with your images (600 to 900 words)?
- We welcome sectoral experts to contribute an opinion piece. Explain why this piece needs to be written right now. Word count: 600 to 900 words.
- The take-away from your story should be clear: it could be a solution that could be replicated or adapted, or it could be a problem to be avoided.
- Get your facts right: the names of people and places, any data, quotes, etc.
- Use active voice.
- We are not an academic journal. So do not use foot notes or in-text citations. When you refer to reports or relevant news, please hyperlink them.
- Please provide a brief about people and places. Not everyone knows who “professor Nguyen” is. It is easier to understand if you write “Nguyen, professor of water management at Vietnam University”.
- Provide a minimum of four photos relevant to the story.
- Please send photos as separate attachments, properly numbered. Do not paste them in the text file of your story.
- Please include captions to photos at the end of your story, as numbered. Include photographer’s name.
- Nextblue reserves the right to reject pitches and opinion submissions.
Editing process
You should be open to your write-up being edited. We will contact you for clarifications and re-writes, if necessary.
Three examples of stories that we find interesting
- Pakistan’s floods show the need for tech-based climate solutions – This story shows the need for better forecasting, and finding innovative solutions to cope with climate-induced disasters.
- Re-greening through the inclusion of farmers and communities in Tanzania – A solution-oriented story on inclusiveness and re-greening that inspires communities around the world to hope and take action.
- Mekong’s women and water – This personal story supports gender equality in the water sector. We are interested in stories that highlight social injustice and gender equality related to water and climate change challenges.
Engage with our audience
We are committed to sparking debates. Get involved in discussions when your story is shared on social media platforms after publication.
In addition to the stories, we offer you a chance to talk about your experiences in our podcast. We would also carry your Q&A in our bi-weekly newsletter, giving you the space you deserve.
Compensation
Depending on the contribution, our remuneration is as follows:
- For professional journalists/ photographers: USD 250, if you commit to writing a feature story OR a photo essay + doing a Q&A for our newsletter + an audio interview for our podcast.
- For professional journalists/ photographers: USD 150 for a feature story OR a photo essay.
- For amateur writers / students / citizen journalists: USD 50.
- We do not pay for commentaries and opinion pieces from sectoral experts / professors / researchers.
Payment will be made after publication, within three weeks of submission of invoice.
What Nextblue does not publish
Poems, press releases, fiction, a story that has been published in another print/ digital platform.