How to Write for RELEVANT

If you are interested in writing for RELEVANT magazine or RELEVANTmagazine.com, you have come to the right place.

RELEVANT's tagline is: "God. Life. Progressive Culture." Our readership is culturally savvy, (largely) Christian twentysomethings who are looking for purpose, depth and spiritual truth. Our purpose is to challenge non-Christians and Christians alike to go further in their spiritual journey, live selflessly and intentionally, care about positively impacting the world around them, and find the unexpected places God is speaking in life, music and culture.

Please look over our writer's guidelines below. We welcome new writers and prefer to use those with previous journalism/writing experience. Thanks again for your interest. We look forward to working with you.

To pitch a story idea or submit a feature for RELEVANTmagazine.com, contact us here . For more information on what we're looking for, read below.

To pitch a story idea or submit a feature for RejectApathy.com, contact us here . For more information on what we're looking for, read below.

To pitch a story idea for the print magazine, contact us here . For more information on what we're looking for, read below.

• For Permissions & Reprints

RELEVANTmagazine.com

With more than 400,000 unique national and international visitors a month and growing, RELEVANTmagazine.com features web-exclusive and user-driven content separate from the print magazine. This site exists to give our audience a voice. Our readers are our writers.

• The God section explores spiritual topics (spiritual disciplines, relationship with God, others and the church, worship). 750-1,000 words
• Life covers just that: life (relationships, career, finance, travel, psychology and ethics/morality). 750-1,000 words
• Progressive Culture talks about what's new and noteworthy in culture—trends, fashion, film, TV, arts and music. Reviews: 600-800 words; features 750-1,000 words.

We are also looking for recurring "expert" columnists in a variety of categories, from social justice to politics to intentional living. Just check out our Column categories and let us know where you'd fit.

Queries: Send a one-paragraph query to Ryan Hamm . Include a summary describing the article idea, an approximate length and date it could be finished. Email submissions preferred, please refrain from phone or fax pitches. [Note: You do not have to query a story idea before sending it in.]

Submissions: We prefer submissions as Word attachments. Your name and a one-two sentence bio should be included with your submission. Submissions to the website are on a donation basis (byline and bio are compensation). Articles are automatically archived. Please double-check spelling and grammar before submitting. All articles will be edited for length, grammar, content, style and tone.

RejectApathy.com

An offshoot of RELEVANTmagazine.com, RejectApathy.com promotes a holistic view of life and social justice issues, and emphasizes core values like long-term partnerships, financial transparency, indigenous leadership and more. The site connects people to ways they can make a difference locally and globally, while spotlighting people and organizations who are effectively rejecting apathy in their cities and countries. Our five key areas are poverty, preventable disease, loss of innocents, unjust war and creation care. We also have a sixth area, worldview, where we hope to inspire readers to ask tough questions—of themselves and their lifestyles, but also of the methods and approaches we take to social justice.

• Poverty covers the issue of domestic homelessness as well as extreme global poverty and its effects. 750-1,000 words
• Preventable Disease articles discuss water-borne illnesses, AIDS, malaria, etc. 750-1,000 words
• Loss of Innocents explores human trafficking, child soldiers, abortion, etc. 750-1,000 words
• Unjust War pieces are related to unjust conflict (i.e., the situation in the Congo, the genocide in Rwanda, etc.) and its effects on the people and their ability to live. 750-1,000 words
• Creation Care articles explore our relationship with creation and how we as Christians are called to care for the Earth. 750-1,000 words

We are also looking for columnists who have unique perspectives on topics concerning the five pillars, and people who are on the front lines and changing the world—both locally and globally.

Queries: Send a one-paragraph query to Ashley Emert . Include a summary describing the article idea, an approximate length and date it could be finished. Email submissions preferred, please refrain from phone or fax pitches. [Note: You do not have to query a story idea before sending it in.]

Submissions: We prefer submissions as Word attachments. Your name and a one-two sentence bio should be included with your submission. Submissions to the website are on a donation basis (byline and bio are compensation). Articles are automatically archived. Please double-check spelling and grammar before submitting. All articles will be edited for length, grammar, content, style and tone.

RELEVANT magazine (print edition)

Published bi-monthly as a 100-page perfect bound magazine, RELEVANT's print edition holds the highest standard in editorial quality. What makes RELEVANTunique? It's the ability to look at life and culture from a God-centered perspective. RELEVANT's niche, our voice, is our ability to look at mainstream culture from a God-centered perspective. To be considered as a writer for the print edition, please send an email stating your intention to write for the print edition specifically, with three samples of your work attached. Please note: We're not interested in first-person perspectives for the print magazine. If you don't have journalism experience, please submit your story ideas for the website, not the print magazine.

• Our God-focused features fall into three categories: 1.) Practical or intellectual 2.) A challenging, passion-stirring call for the individual reader to have a deeper relationship with God, and 3.) Global perspective and spiritual movements.

• Life features cover a gamut of everyday life issues—career, finances, relationships, health and more—from a God-centered lens. (For example, if we're covering something like investing, we're doing it with the context that money isn't everything; we need to be good stewards with what God's blessed us with.) We can give the same good, journalistic info that another magazine would, but the perspective of our piece is slightly different. That unique worldview must permeate everything we write.

•Progressive Culture spotlights, Q&As and features look at and interview the hottest names in culture (music, film, TV, books) with a spiritual angle.

Note: We suggest you check out several issues of RELEVANT in print before submitting an article query. Back issues are available for $2.50 through theRELEVANT Store, or you can buy a current issue for $4.95 at newsstands nationwide.

Once an assignment is made (we assign one month out from the bi-monthly editorial deadline), article should be emailed by midnight of the deadline given. If the article does not meet deadline or does not meet editorial standards, we reserve the right to refuse payment. Payment is within 45 days of publication of accepted article. Prices paid vary per assignment. Articles will also appear in a digital edition of the print magazine at our website. This is for promotion purposes, and no additional compensation will be paid. 

Submissions and Queries: Send a one-paragraph query to Editorial Director Roxanne Wieman . Include a summary describing the article idea, an approximate length and date it could be finished. Email submissions preferred, please refrain from phone or fax pitches. Please note that all articles will be edited for length, grammar, content, style and tone.

NEUE QUARTERLY AND NEUEMINISTRY.COM

We have recently launched a publication specifically for innovation-minded ministers and leaders. We need writers for both Neue Quarterly (basically a 200+ page magazine in book form) and www.neueministry.com, its daily updated, free counterpart. These publications primarily speak to ministers/leaders of 18-34s (though it does span beyond), so writers should have a significant amount of background in some form of innovative ministry.

About Neue Quarterly: It’s a 200+ page, full-color quarterly book specifically focusing on innovation in ministry, personal spiritual growth and connecting with what God is doing and saying today. Each edition includes teaching, ministry spotlights, resources, ideas for practical ministry, social action, tips on how to incorporate culture/contemplative practices in ministry, columns and more.

Who gets it? Neue Quarterly is subscription-driven and a select number are distributed at national leader events and retail outlets.

Payment: All submissions to Neue Quarterly and NeueMinistry.com are on a donation basis (byline, product and bio are compensation). Please send submissions as Word attachments. Your name and a one-two sentence bio should be included with your submission. Writers for Neue Quarterly will receive a copy of the issue in which their article appears.

Writers retain copyright for pieces published on the website. Articles are automatically archived.

Submissions and Queries: Send a one-paragraph query to brand director Josh Loveless at joshl@relevantmediagroup.com . Include a summary describing the article idea, an approximate length and date it could be finished. Email submissions preferred, please refrain from phone or fax pitches. Please note that all articles will be edited for length, grammar, content, style and tone.

Final Words

We do our best to respond to all inquiries, but be aware we are sometimes inundated. If you have not heard back from us after 4-6 weeks, please assume we will not be able to use your idea or submission.

EDITORIAL INFORMATION
(updated 04/27/10)