We welcome submissions in both English and Urdu!
Before submitting, please read this all the way through.
We’ve received an overwhelming response from our readers as well as potential writers, so to make the process easier and to allow us to keep up with your submissions, please follow these guidelines:
Send us a pitch, not a finished piece. We’d love to read every submission, but we are time-constrained. So, send us 1-2 paragraphs about the essay or story you intend to write. Please keep in mind that you will not only be writing for Pakistanis in Pakistan; you will also be writing for people outside of Pakistan who may not keep up with everyday politics in the country. Think big picture not daily news. The pitch should state: a) what the piece is about b) your angle or the question you are trying to answer or investigate c) why you are well-positioned to write the article. Do you have personal experiences relating to the topic? Expertise? Can you do original research? Additionally, send us a short bio so we know who you are!
Types of pitches.
Reportage. We welcome pitches for well-reported, longform journalism (2500+ words) articles, particularly under-reported stories or angles that are missing in the mainstream media. Articles may be investigative stories, cultural topics, profiles of important or interesting figures or follow-up pieces on forgotten stories. We take written work as well as audio and video.
Reporter’s Notebook. If you have gathered interesting field notes while researching a longer story or have reflections on covering a particular story, send us a pitch for a Reporter’s Notebook piece (~800 words).
Voices. Send us a pitch for an audio (3-5 mins), video (3-5 mins) or written interview with an important, influential, interesting or marginalized figure. Tell us who the person is and why it’s important for others to hear her or his voice.
Essay. We look forward to pitches for critical, cultural, political and/or personal essays (2500+ words), particularly those that take the discussion on Pakistan beyond the security studies paradigm. We are not looking for cynical screeds. We appreciate essays that are nuanced, well-researched and/or draw on personal experience, anecdotes and stories. For a critical essay, don’t just tell us that class divisions are bad and equality is good; give historical or contemporary examples and explain how class works.
We work closely with our writers, and all of our published articles undergo an editing process. We, too, have read this and this and this, and we, therefore, especially encourage women to send us pitches.
Send pitches to: editors@tanqeed.org
Sit back and relax. We’ll get back to you!
