On International Women's Day, we'd like to encourage more women to pitch writing ideas to UKClimbing.com and UKHillwalking.com. In recent years, we have increased our in-house coverage of women's climbing and women in the outdoors, alongside more female-specific gear and training editorial, but we'd still love to feature more freelance commissions written by women.
We are especially interested in showcasing more work from people in communities underrepresented in outdoor media. Of course, we will always be open to ideas for content from everyone, but we'd like to take this opportunity to give women and marginalised gender identities a nudge to consider writing for us.
More women are climbing, walking and getting outdoors than ever before and the media landscape is slowly becoming more representative, but - despite a fair number of female editors in outdoor media - contributing writers in the field are still disproportionately male.
Perhaps you can help us get towards a more equal balance? If you've got an idea - no matter how big or small - get in touch!
What we're looking for:
We are very much open to ideas - don't get hung up on specifics, just drop us a line and we can talk it over! But here are some to start you off:
- Our monthly Crag Notes series is ongoing, in which writers share a nature-rich snapshot of a favourite crag or local haunt
- So is Desert Island Peaks on UKHillwalking. Get involved!
- Destination Guides and ticklists.
- Route Cards on UKH
- The usual broad-ranging UKC and UKH content: historical, social and cultural feature articles, interviews, essays, opinion pieces, environmental stories, skills articles, creative pieces, poetry, humour pieces, longform 'In Focus' stories, journalistic explorations, science and tech stories.
- We're pretty flexible (just send that pitch!)
What we're not looking for:
- We tend to like pieces with some depth. Blog-style pieces with no focus or story are unlikely to be accepted.
- Solely pieces about being a female climber or walker, or issues relating to women (these are important and we have examples on the site, but we'd ideally like more women to be writing about non-female-specific topics and issues). If you have an idea for a women-specific piece, please pitch, but don't feel confined to this area.
- Gear reviews. We have a team of dedicated reviewers and are not currently accepting submissions for gear reviews
- Topics we've covered before, or which have been covered elsewhere especially recently. New angles might be of interest, though.
- PR fluff/advertorial
How to pitch:
Send an email to natalie @ ukclimbing.com or dan @ ukhillwalking.com. We're not fussed about perfectly preened pitches; if your idea is strong/relevant and you briefly explain who you are and how you'll go about it, your idea will be considered. Writing experience is a bonus but not essential. Likewise with spelling and grammar! We have people for that.
Payment: We aim to pay fairly and promptly upon invoicing after publication.
Some previous examples of commissions from women:
For more information on what we're looking for, please read our article submission guidelines or feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.
Comments
Yes. It's the 19th November. I'm sure Google could have told you that.
Great stuff, will you be running a piece on the front page for it?
Ignorant and passive-aggressive responses like this are a major reason why women don't pitch, or would prefer to do so in a space aimed at women.
It's also an excellent illustration of the ways that men often exert control over a space, whether geographical or online - and it's so normal that you don't even consider that you are exerting exclusionary control with your comments.
When would have been a better time for UKC to highlight that they would like more pitches from women?
That would be an interesting pitch, wouldn't it?
Men--who already contribute the majority of articles and don't seem to need encouragement to get in touch--to be encouraged to get in touch to discuss their experiences, which are frequently discussed...
Totally worthy of front page news, that.
Well said both Gritstone Widow and Wil.