By Ogova Ondego
Published July 15, 2015
Commonwealth Writers is looking for writers from its 53-member countries and five regions for its online publications.
“We have a particular interest in arts and culture in the different regions but also welcome thoughtful and less-heard socio-political stories. Investigative or reflective essays, extended profiles, memoir, cartoons – these are all things we’re interested in”, Commonwealth Writers says as it invites applicants to pitch story ideas either as Correspondents or One-Off Writers.The deadline for application is July 27, 2015.
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a). Correspondents
Commonwealth Writers seeks to commission Correspondents from each of its five regions: Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.
Each selected correspondent will write up to four stories over a three month period and will be paid £1,200 in three installments over the period of work.
To be considered, writers must be citizens of Commonwealth countries and must be residents in the regions about which they are writing.
b). One-off Commissions
Commonwealth Writers also commissions writers a piece at a time, to follow a good lead or story. Payment for these stories varies according to the depth of research and writing required for each piece but begins at a baseline of £200 for a 2000 word piece, with images.
Writers must be citizens of Commonwealth countries but can be resident anywhere.
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To be considered, the applicant has to send Commonwealth Writers:
- Â A written pitch (no more than one A4 page in length) for three story ideas;
- Two writing samples of no more than 3000 words each (as close as possible to the kind of piece you’d be writing for us);
- A current CV (with details of previous writing experience), including the name and contact details of at least one referee;
- A paragraph about oneself and why one would like to be a correspondent;
- One thought about how Commonwealth Writers could improve its website and publications;
“Correspondents in this round should have the availability to work on this scheme between about mid August and mid November, 2015. If you apply to be a correspondent you will automatically be considered for one-off commissions too,” Commonwealth Writers says.
But should one be interested in the One-Off writing bit, then one has to send the following items to Commonwealth Writers:
- The idea;
- One writing sample of no more than 3000 words (as close as possible to the kind of piece one would be writing for Commonwealth Writers);
- A current CV or a paragraph about oneself and one’s previous writing experience.
Applications, preferably in Microsoft Word attachments, are to be sent to commonwealthwriters@gmail.com. The deadline is Monday, July 27, 2015 at 11.59pm in any time zone.
