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Contribute features, stories or letters to BBC Wildlife
How to submit feature ideas
If you have an idea for a story that is original, thought-provoking and as far as you know has not been recently covered in BBC Wildlife Magazine, please email a short summary to the features editor Sarah McPherson.
Before you submit your idea, read BBC Wildlife and get to know our format and type of content. We have regular strands such as Talking Point that have a different purpose to the general species-based features. Be aware that we only commission one-off features, never a monthly series.
Take plenty of time over your pitch - a hastily written email isn't good enough; simply naming a species and asking if we want something written about it will be ignored. We don't need an essay, but we do need a clear idea of what you are proposing.
Ask yourself:
- How would your idea fit into BBC Wildlife?
- What would its purpose and angle be?
- Why should we publish it now?
- Are there images to support your story?
Two of the most important things we look for are passion for the subject and your personal experience of it or what you have gleaned from interviewing experts.
Every article has to be as interesting, informative, factually accurate, authoritative and readable as possible. Support your pitch with a brief synopsis of the proposed subject and how you will angle the piece, and any boxouts you think will be informative. DO NOT submit already written articles; they are invariably the wrong length and not in our style.
Great images are very important to this magazine. So you need to establish if your subject has been well photographed - images of obscure animals are often difficult to come by and we cannot publish a story without them.
If you are interviewing people we will need images of them, too, particularly doing their work in the field, so you need to know that they will be agreeable to appearing in the magazine. We will source the images ourselves, but a steer on where they might be found is always useful.
Finally, you MUST let us know if you have submitted – or intend to submit – another article on this subject to any other publication, in print or online, even if there's a different angle to it.
We try to acknowledge every pitch we receive but due to the large number of ideas sent to us there may be a delay in replying. Sorry! Also, we cannot give feedback if a pitch has not been accepted, although we may give a brief reason if your overall approach is good but it so happens that we already have something similar in the pipeline.
If you are commissioned, you will receive a detailed brief on what we'd like you to write, taking your pitch as the basis, a word count, a deadline and a fee.
How to submit news stories
We are always interested in receiving ideas for news stories for the magazine from freelance writers, but we do have a large number of professional journalists on our books who fulfill most of our needs.
If you wish to submit a news idea, please read the relevant sections of BBC Wildlife to make sure your submission conforms to our house style, tone and format.
Please email a brief (100–150 words) outline of your news ideas, explaining why you are the person to write the story, to Sarah McPherson.
Please note, due to the large amount of correspondence received daily, we are not always able to acknowledge receipt of unsolicited pitches. If you do not hear from us within two weeks, you should assume that your idea has been unsuccessful.
How to submit a volunteering story
Our volunteering interview showcases inspiring and extraordinary volunteers, and we welcome ideas of people to feature.
Please e-mail Sarah McPherson. with a brief summary of the volunteer and the work they do, and why they should be featured.
Please note, due to the large amount of correspondence received daily, we are not always able to acknowledge receipt of unsolicited pitches. If you do not hear from us within a month, you should assume that your idea has been unsuccessful.
Send us a letter for Your Feedback
BBC Wildlife welcomes letters on any subjects raised in the magazine, your opinions on environmental issues and your wildlife observations.
We really want to hear from you, but are afraid that due to the large amount of correspondence we received, we are not able to acknowledge them or reply personally.
Please note:
- letters should be short - no more than 150 words long – so that we can fit them all in
- letters may be edited for publication
- we welcome images submitted to accompany letters, but please bear in mind that no fee will be paid for images submitted with a letter
Please post your letters to: Wildlife Letters, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4ST or email them to wildlifeletters@immediate.co.uk
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