Freelance Pitches

We’re always accepting freelance pitches from storytellers of all kinds – from journalists to community members with a story to share.
We’re always accepting freelance pitches

We want to encourage more Indigenous storytelling! Whether you have years of journalism experience, or simply have a story to share, send us your pitch.

IndigiNews is focused on relationship-building, uplifting storytelling, trauma-informed practices and holding colonial institutions to account. We centre Indigenous people in our stories.

We want to work with storytellers of all kinds: journalists, photographers, creative writers and community members with something to share. We especially welcome pitches from Indigenous writers.

We welcome ideas for news stories, feature stories, investigations, arts stories and op-eds, including photo essays. IndigiNews stories typically range from 500 to 2,000 words.

Here are some examples of the kind of freelance work we’ve published:

A First Person story from a community member
A News Feature about an Indigenous-led project
A Deep Dive into a story about Indigenous land rights
A First Person op-ed about a current topical issue
A photo essay featuring a community event

Before pitching to IndigiNews, please familiarize yourself with our website and previous reporting about the topic of your pitch. You can also learn more about our team.
Guidelines for pitching to IndigiNews:

Send a 300-500 word paragraph to stories@indiginews.com that describes who is involved in the story, who is impacted, where and when something took place, why the story is relevant to people now, and how you envision your story being shared.

Tell us whether your story is timeless or timely — is it about a current event that would be published in a few days, or within 1-2 weeks of pitching, or is it a story that will take a bit longer, even months?

Can your story be told with visuals? If so, do you already have photos you can send in your pitch, or can you describe what visuals we would use in the story? Tell us about that, too.

We hope to get to know you in this process, so tell us a bit about who you are and why this story is important to you. If you have previous experience, include a couple of links to your work. And let us know if you’ve pitched or sent the story elsewhere.

We will typically follow up with you within three weeks (less if it’s a time-sensitive story) if we are interested in the pitch. We aim to respond to everyone, but due to the volume of pitches we receive, if you don’t hear back within two weeks you can assume your story has not been accepted at this time.
If your story is accepted:

IndigiNews shares stories that are trauma-informed and culturally-sensitive. Often, especially when we start working with a new storyteller, we like to have a discussion about steps to get there. This might include making a plan to ensure anyone you’re interviewing for the story is cared for before, during and after publication. We’re also happy to provide support throughout your process as needed.

You will file the story to our Freelance Editor, and our team will work with you to get the story ready for publication. Typically a story will go through at least two edits and fact-checking. We strive to report the truth fairly and accurately. We take the time to scour all available resources to ensure the integrity of the stories we tell. When there are allegations made, we will speak to all people and parties in question. This ensures that all those involved have knowledge about what is said and have a voice in the story.

Once it’s ready, the piece will be published on the IndigiNews website, and it may also be republished by one of our partner organizations: The Discourse and APTN.

Rates & Payment

A rate will be agreed upon when the story is accepted, and you will invoice us for the story upon publication.

IndigiNews pays freelancers on a sliding scale, usually between $250 and $750, depending on a story’s length, quality of images, depth and estimated time for completion.