New_ Public Magazine: Call for Pitches

Pitch us your ideas for the Trust issue

The call for submissions is now closed. Thank you for your interest.

New_ Public is a nonprofit project seeking to advance the design of healthier digital spaces. Our magazine, launched earlier this year, features diverse perspectives on the internet, from critical to hopeful, realist to imaginative, both inside and outside of the tech industry. We think a lot about what the offline world can teach us about improving our online one. Here are a few pieces from our last issue, which was about decentralization.

For our next issue (April 2022), New_ Public Magazine is seeking stories about trust. Here are some questions we’re hoping to answer: 

• How does trust—or mistrust—impact digital infrastructure? 

• What kinds of trust infrastructure help online spaces flourish?

• What can we learn from online communities with different / unique approaches to trust? 

• What happens when trust is unequally distributed (across race, class, gender, geography, etc.)? 

• What should be the role of “trustless” systems (i.e. blockchain) in public life? 

Of course, you may have interesting questions of your own. We don’t want general responses to these questions, but rather stories that engage with them. 

We are primarily looking for nonfiction pieces of 1500-2000 words, but are open to other forms, including speculative fiction, visual journalism, and multimedia. We value lively, non-jargony writing, and encourage personal, even playful approaches. 

We offer a rate of $0.75 per word for written pieces. 

How to pitch New_ Public Magazine

Please email hello@newpublic.org with a subject line starting with “Pitch.” In the body of the email, briefly tell us your story and angle, and explain how your approach or perspective is different from what’s already out there. Be sure to mention what kind of story you’re thinking (e.g. feature story, personal essay, short story). If your story needs reporting, tell us your plan. 

You don’t need to be an established writer to pitch us! But if you have clips, feel free to include up to three. 

We prefer to work with you to develop your pitch into a story, but will consider submissions that are complete drafts.

Pitches are due December 15, 2021. First drafts are expected by January 31, 2021. The call for submissions is now closed. Thank you for your interest.

What we’re not looking for

• Overviews. We don’t want a summary of a topic, we want a story that shows why it matters. 

• Academic papers. Pieces in our magazine should be accessible to a general readership. 

• Already-published work. We’re looking for new ideas! 

• PR pitches. We’re not interested in doing promotional stories, sorry. 

– Wilfred Chan
Editor, New_ Public Magazine