The Contributor helps our homeless neighbors establish their own micro-businesses and work their way into housing through selling our award winning street paper.
Vendors earn immediate income, establish meaningful relationships, regain their dignity, and become Contributors to the community.
Our paper covers all things related to poverty, homelessness, housing in the Middle Tennessee area. We write short features, news stories, publish investigative work and provide a space for people on the streets to write in their own words.
We do not assign stories to freelancers. Freelancers for The Contributor should pitch stories they are passionate about writing and have thoroughly researched before presenting. We prefer to receive pitches via email, and while we love the spirit of volunteers who want to write for us, we also prefer to pay our writers.
Please include the word “pitch” in your subject line along with a headline-style subject related to your pitch. (Example: Pitch: Housing task force to work through city’s Section 8 backlog.) Please also include three links or PDFs of your published work. If you’re new to journalism and don’t yet have work published, you are still welcome to pitch us and tell us about any relevant experience. Email your pitches to editorial@thecontributor.org. If you are an illustrator or artist who would like to work with us, email linda@thecontributor.org with three relevant work examples.
Avoid conflicts of interest — if you are friends or relatives with a subject, we will likely not accept your pitch, no matter how much it matches up with our editorial style and content.
We unfortunately aren’t always able to respond to every pitch in a timely manner; if after a couple weeks you haven’t heard back, feel free to try us again or pitch it elsewhere. We'll discuss our pay rates with you if we decide to give you an assignment.
Read what we've published in the past here.
Vendors earn immediate income, establish meaningful relationships, regain their dignity, and become Contributors to the community.
Our paper covers all things related to poverty, homelessness, housing in the Middle Tennessee area. We write short features, news stories, publish investigative work and provide a space for people on the streets to write in their own words.
We do not assign stories to freelancers. Freelancers for The Contributor should pitch stories they are passionate about writing and have thoroughly researched before presenting. We prefer to receive pitches via email, and while we love the spirit of volunteers who want to write for us, we also prefer to pay our writers.
Please include the word “pitch” in your subject line along with a headline-style subject related to your pitch. (Example: Pitch: Housing task force to work through city’s Section 8 backlog.) Please also include three links or PDFs of your published work. If you’re new to journalism and don’t yet have work published, you are still welcome to pitch us and tell us about any relevant experience. Email your pitches to editorial@thecontributor.org. If you are an illustrator or artist who would like to work with us, email linda@thecontributor.org with three relevant work examples.
Avoid conflicts of interest — if you are friends or relatives with a subject, we will likely not accept your pitch, no matter how much it matches up with our editorial style and content.
We unfortunately aren’t always able to respond to every pitch in a timely manner; if after a couple weeks you haven’t heard back, feel free to try us again or pitch it elsewhere. We'll discuss our pay rates with you if we decide to give you an assignment.
Read what we've published in the past here.