Pitches wanted (Southern election, censorship, legislative season) | up to $1,200 per article

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: SCALAWAG

Sherronda J. Brown, Editor in Chief of Scalawag, is looking for pitches: 

I’m accepting pitches for Scalawag’s “As the South Votes” series! We are seeking coverage of Southern legislative sessions + election year storylines that focus on the national/global expansion of southern repression as key technologies of this fascist moment.

2024 is an election year that marks the culmination of nearly 4 years of rapidly expanding repressive fascist state apparatus. This election season our region continues to be the nation’s testing ground for the censorship, policing and access barriers that define post-2020 reality.

Our electoral coverage will exceed voting, candidate profiles and the presidential election. Instead, we want to center the legislative sessions, Supreme Court decisions and local policy changes that govern the Southern lived experience—and, by extension, the South’s vote.

We are looking for critical and personal essays covering the proposed bills, recently implemented legislation, grassroots political organizing groups, direct action protests and political candidates that are impeding or advancing justice in the South this election/legislative season.

This includes (but is not limited to) the following topic/issue areas:

• Censorship: libraries and book bans, limiting school curriculums, policing the press, anti-labor unions and anti-protest laws, crackdowns on bail funds and mutual aid work, terrorism laws End of DEI: defunding DEI offices and programs, banning DEI in universities and other institutions

• Supreme Court: Coverage of Supreme Court decisions implicating Southern states/jurisdictions in deciding the nation’s future on key political issues Reproductive Unfreedom: abortion bans and criminalization, contraception access, HIV/STI Stigma, Justice for Survivors

• Post-2020 Carcerality: Expansion of the prison industrial complex, prisoner repression, and investment in police militarization (i.e. construction of Cop Cities), new criminalization laws or efforts to overturn discriminatory arrest laws

• Anti-LGBTQ+: marriage equality, adoption, legal definitions of sex-gender, bathroom bills, survivor’s justice bills with transphobic/anti-queer implications Youth repression: censorship, gender and school sports, anti-protest laws and sentiment, school privatization/defunding

• Electoral Justice: Ballot access, gerrymandering, repression of progressive legislators, profiles of harmful or hopeful elected officials, the South as an election “battleground”

• Climate and environmental action: land grabs, pollution and environmental destruction, climate issues in Southern communities, climate as an electoral issue in the South Housing: anti-gentrification struggles, housing justice advocacy, and tenants right bills

• Immigration: migrant surveillance, policing and border security, xenophobic sentiment ahead of the election, Southern states as a model for anti-migrant legislation Religious and Personal Freedom:“ religious freedom” bills, expanded Christian doctrine in schools, gun laws, drug laws

I’m accepting pitches on a rolling basis so shoot me somethin good at tea@scalawagmagazine.org 

CONFIDENTIAL NOTE: Reports indicate that Scalawag pays up to $1,200 per piece. It is recommended that you discuss the rate(s) with the editor upon the acceptance of your pitch.

--------------------

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Questions/submissions: tea@scalawagmagazine.org

• Website: https://scalawagmagazine.org

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Scalawag aims to spark critical conversations about the many Souths where we live, love, and struggle. It amplifies voices of activists, artists, and writers to reckon with Southern realities as they are, rather than as they seem to be. More information here.

• Read through its selection of recent articles/stories, categorized into: Southern Politics, Race & Place, Arts & Soul

• Review the submission guidelines here. Note that these are the publication's general guidelines to help you refine your pitch. You must still follow the editor's specific instructions above.

• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.

• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

--------------------

LOOKING FOR MORE OPPORTUNITIES? Find additional jobs on Extra. Check out the upcoming deadlines on our PLUS+ Calendar. Filter the listings by category (worldwide opportunities, high-paying leads, paying publications, and non-pitching jobs). Use the search form on the homepage to find opportunities relevant to your interests.

WANT OUR DIGEST delivered to your inbox on a daily basis? Go to your email settings and make sure the notifications for Write Jobs PLUS+ are turned on. Want more tips? Read the welcome notes here.