WHAT TO SUBMIT TO THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH?
The Columbus Dispatch Opinion and Sunday Conversation sections publish analysis, commentary, argument and first-person essays on a wide variety of subjects.
We seek timely (pegged to current events), inspiring, informative pieces related to news topics and ways to improve our community.
Columns must be fact-based and written to appeal to a statewide audience or/and people who reside in Columbus or central Ohio.
The section’s mission is to advocate for positive change and provide forums for conversations that move our communities, state and nation forward.
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING TO THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Columns typically run 400 to 700 words. They can be written directly into an email or attached as a Word file. Send to arobinson@dispatch.com or Letters@Dispatch.com.
Pieces should include links (URLs, not headlines or footnotes) to back up quotes and factual material. People featured in columns must be identified by their real, full names.
Due to the volume of submissions, we can’t respond to all columns sent to us.
Submissions may be edited for accuracy, clarity, style, standards and length. Headlines are decided by our staff.
Please include with your submission a short biography, two sentences at most, to run at the end of your column, as well as a current photograph, to which you own publishing rights.
If you are submitting a piece on behalf of someone else, please provide that person’s address, daytime phone number and an official trackable email address, such as a business or school account.
If you or a business, trade group or other institution with which you are associated stands to gain financially or in any other way from your column, you should disclose that information in detail. In most cases, it should also be included in the body of the piece or in the author’s biographical information.
We accept only pieces that are submitted exclusively to The Dispatch.
We do not accept material that has been published on blogs, social media or anywhere else.
We do not accept submissions that include content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and language learning models (LLMs).
HOW WILL ACCEPTED COLUMNS BE USED
Accepted columns could appear online, in print or both.
All columns published by The Columbus Dispatch are available for use online and in print by the more than 250 properties in the USA TODAY Network.
In Ohio, that includes Cincinnati Enquirer; Akron Beacon Journal; Mansfield News Journal; Newark Advocate; The Canton Repository and 16 other newspapers and their websites.
Nationally, it includes USA TODAY, The Indianapolis Star; The Arizona Republic; Detroit Free Press; Asbury Park Press; Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York); The Courier-Journal ( Louisville), The Tennessean (Nashville); The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City); The Desert Sun, Tallahassee Democrat; The Des Moines Register; the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Savannah Morning News
Authors may post their columns elsewhere 48 hours after they are published at The Dispatch. By submitting a column to The Dispatch and agreeing to its publication, authors are granting exclusive rights to the piece to the USA TODAY Network for 48 hours and non-exclusive rights thereafter.
To get a sense of our range, preferences and requirements, check out our opinion section, join the Conversation Facebook Group, or sign up for our weekly Conversation newsletter.
HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Send letters to the editor to Letters@Dispatch.com.
Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length and to conform to our editorial style and standards. Submissions of 200 words or fewer have the best chance of being published. Letters must include a name, address and phone number.
Click this link for more information about submitting letters to the editor and our online form.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How to submit guest opinion columns to the Columbus Dispatch
Reporting by The Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
