Some of our best stories have come from people like you.
Borderless Magazine reports on labor, justice and advocacy issues impacting Midwestern immigrant communities. We report using a lens of equity and resilience.
We welcome pitches for reported feature stories, comics, photo essays, and as-told-to stories. Our story payment starts at $250 and goes up based on the difficulty of the story. Our photographer assignment rate is $200.
We encourage immigrants, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and women to pitch us.
If you haven’t worked with us before, here are a few pointers on how to craft a pitch and capture our attention:
- Read our magazine to get a sense of our voice and examples of stories that we cover.
- Google your idea. See who else has covered it, and what new angle you can approach your coverage with. This should be included in your pitch.
- Please don’t send us complete drafts of stories. We want to work with you to develop your story.
- Please include examples of your past work.
Never pitched before? Here’s an example of what we’re looking for:
Purpose | Pitch |
| Headline | Community reacts to Verve Wine’s proposed “packaged goods license” for new Lincoln Park location |
| Who and Where | The New York-based wine shop Verve Wine is planning on opening their first Chicago location this spring in Lincoln Park’s new Lincoln Common development, the site of the former Children’s Memorial Hospital. Verve is co-owned by Dustin Wilson, a master sommelier and one of the stars of the wine documentary Somm. |
| What | In order to open the shop, however, Verve needs a “packaged goods license” from the city, which would allow them to sell “alcoholic liquor enclosed in the original manufacturer sealed and labeled container.” |
| Why | Before approving this license, the local Alderman Michele Smith is hosting a community meeting on February 13 so citizens can learn more about Verve, including their concept and operations, and how this liquor license will impact the neighborhood. Lincoln Common is across the street from DePaul University, one block away from Lincoln Elementary School and half a mile away from three daycare centers. |
| Sources | For this story, I will attend the community meeting and interview residents, the alderman and a representative from Verve about how this liquor license and the opening of Verve will impact locals. I want to know whether anyone has concerns about the bar’s proximity to DePaul’s campus and the other schools in the neighborhood, as well as what systems Verve is putting in place to ensure its patrons drink responsibly. |
| Story type | This story will be a reported story in inverted pyramid style and be approximately 800 words. |
Send your pitches to us at pitch@borderlessmag.org with the subject line “Story Pitch.”
