Write for Mojatu: Get paid to tell great community stories
About Mojatu
Mojatu is a multimedia organisation that runs a news website and publishes a series of quarterly print magazines aimed at people of African and Caribbean heritage living in the UK. As a small team of journalists, we welcome submissions from freelance writers to help expand and diversify our coverage. While Mojatu focuses on stories relating to African and Caribbean communities, anyone is welcome to contribute and we urge you to send us your very best ideas by emailing our team of editors.
What we’re looking for
We would like to commission stories that meet as many of the following criteria as possible:
- Original: Send us your own unique ideas, rather than ones you’ve found via another outlet. You may also want to offer a new angle on an existing story.
- Timely: As a news organisation, we expect pitches we receive to relate to recent events or trending topics to some extent. For example, we wouldn’t publish a report of an event that happened several months ago unless there’s a reason it has become newsworthy again.
- Local: Your story should be relevant to people living in one of our four target areas: London, Berkshire, Nottingham or Derby.
- Objective: We are looking for stories that are written in the third person and based on facts rather than the writer’s personal opinions.
- Interview-based: Stories can almost always be enhanced by speaking to someone who is an authority on the subject. This could be anything from a short quote to multiple interview questions.
- Solutions-oriented: There are many negative stories relating to ethnically-diverse communities in the media, so we aim to counter this by taking a positive outlook and looking at ways that people are overcoming challenges within their communities.
How to pitch
- Choose which area your pitch is most relevant for – London, Berkshire, Nottingham or Derby – and address the email to the relevant editor. If you are unsure, send it to our Editor-in-Chief. You can find our editors’ email addresses at the end of this guide.
- Catch our attention by starting your subject line with ‘PITCH:’ followed by a working headline.
- Briefly introduce yourself and your experience within journalism and/or the subject matter you’d like to write about. If you have written articles before, send us examples of your previous work. If you haven’t written before, don’t worry – as long as your idea is strong enough, we can guide you through how to write it.
- Summarise your idea within a few sentences: what has happened, why is it important and who is your source? Please refrain from sending us completed articles at this stage – the editor will guide you through the best approach to writing the story before you start.
What happens next
An editor will aim to respond to your email within 3-4 working days.
If your pitch is approved, they will work with you to establish a deadline – usually within the next two weeks – and give you some pointers on what they expect from the piece. Please bear in mind that the editor holds the right to request changes upon receiving your first draft, and in rare cases may refuse to publish it if it does not meet our standards after multiple edits.
If your pitch isn’t approved, don’t be disheartened. Our editors will strive to share feedback on why your pitch was unsuccessful, and you can pitch as often as you like, so please keep trying. We are keen to work with first-time writers and help them improve their newsgathering and story development skills.
Publication and payment
We pay a flat rate of £40 per article, which will usually sit somewhere between 500-800 words. The editor will let you know once your article has been published on mojatu.com and will provide you with details on how to receive your payment. Your article may also be selected for publication within one of our print magazines – you can find the content deadlines for each upcoming issue in our media kit.
Get in touch
Group Editor-in-Chief / Nottingham Editor
Peter Makossah
peter.makossah@mojatu.com
Assistant Group Editor / Derby Editor
Jamie Morris
derby@mojatu.com
London Editor
Omar Mohammed
info@rafikiwema.org
Berkshire Editor
Raveena Hargun
raveena@mojatu.com
We look forward to hearing your ideas – happy pitching!