Guidelines for Submissions to the Moscow Food Co-op Community News

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By Bill London, Carol Spurling, and Therese Harris, editors

SUMMARY: All text submissions are due on the 15th of the month, with final deadline of the 20th. Photos and illustrations are due by the 24th. Text submissions should be emailed to all editors. Photos and illustrations should be emailed to the designers. Assigned articles and columns (with volunteer discounts arranged before submission) should be about 500 words long, up to a maximum of 700 words. Submissions from Co-op members announcing events or providing commentary on issues are encouraged, but do not receive volunteer discount and must be no longer than 300 words, with one photo acceptable.

The Moscow Food Co-op Community News is meant to serve as a forum for discussion of food, health, and other relevant issues. It is also intended as a medium for informing Co-op members and shoppers about Co-op policies, activities, governance, and monthly specials.

We encourage Co-op members and other interested members of the community to share their ideas and concerns in this newsletter. We also urge representatives of community groups to announce their public events and programs to our readership by submitting that information to the newsletter. And we aim to provide a forum for Co-op members to discuss Co-op practices, products, and priorities.

The Co-op Community News is written and edited entirely by volunteers. In order to get this newsletter out on time and in a readable format, we need your help. Please submit your articles using the following guidelines.

Submissions
Please submit articles by the 15th of the month. The final deadline for submissions is noon, on the 20th of each month, for publication in the next month's issue. For instance, articles for the June issue are due by May 15th, and no later than noon on May 20th. Artwork/illustrations and photos are due by noon on the 24th of each month. Early submissions are encouraged and very much appreciated.

Articles of general community interest are encouraged, and are used on a space-available basis. Articles supporting particular political candidates are not accepted (but that kind of partisan political message can be put into a paid advertisement).

We do not reprint brochures. Articles which merely repeat brochures, political material, or advertisements are not accepted. However, articles which include some previously printed material as support for the author's position are acceptable. The point is that the author must be a Co-op shopper/member and primarily use his/her own words to explain the issue.

Letters to the Editor are accepted—provided they are signed—and will be printed verbatim, on a space-available basis. Those letters can cover any relevant topic, and are especially encouraged if written in response to articles printed in the newsletter.

All submissions are preferred by email. Assigned articles, with volunteer discounts to the authors, must be sent by email. We will accept community announcements and commentaries that are handwritten or typed. All submissions should include the author's name and phone number for editorial verification (so we can call you if we have any questions); your phone number will not be published, unless you specifically ask that it be included. Anonymous articles/letters will not be published.

Submissions can be left at the Co-op. Please place submissions in the Newsletter Drop Slot, which is now attached to the wall in the Co-op staff break room. Send articles via email to all three editors at editors@moscowfood.coop, and include the words "Co-op newsletter article" in the subject line. Since the editors alternate monthly editing duties, please send submissions to all three editors at that address to ensure the right person gets it as soon as possible. Send graphics and photos to The Designer.

Format
For each article submitted, please supply your own article headline or title, and byline (author's name). Please also include a short biographical sketch (25 words or less) to follow the article. Assigned articles are to be 500 to 700 words long (not counting separate-but-related recipes or sidebar information). Articles may be shortened by an editor to fit available space. You don't necessarily have to hand-count the words of an article; estimate 500 words per single-spaced page.

Member submissions (not assigned by newsletter editor) are welcome. These submissions can announce events of interest or offer commentary on important issues, and must not exceed 300 words.

Layout/design details and other really picky things
Please use a common, standard font such as Times New Roman. Leave the main body of the article in plain text, without indents or centering. Do not put your title in ALL CAPS. The layout/design folks will make it look like an article--and it's much quicker and easier to do that when starting with the plainest text possible.

Do not use special formatting or symbols such as italics or underlining, fractions or foreign language letters, except when absolutely necessary, as they often do not translate well between software programs.

When submitting by email, if you send the article as an attachment, also please paste the article as text in the message, in case the attachment does not open.

Do not leave an extra blank line between paragraphs—a hard return after a paragraph is usually enough.

Co-op is hyphenated (without that hyphen it's a place where chickens roost.)

Electronic photo submission guidelines
Please send your digital photos at 150 dpi or greater resolution. If they are at 72 dpi (screen resolution) please make sure they are at least 8" x 10" when viewed in a photo application such as Photoshop. Jpeg or tiff format is acceptable. Send illustrations and photos only to newsletter designer, Melissa Simpson, at msimpson@uidaho.edu, not to the editors.

If you have any questions about submissions, article topics, suitability, or discounts for newsletter work, please contact Bill London. Thank you for your interest in, and your support of, the Moscow Food Co-op.

Mailed subscriptions to the newsletter are also available.