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Submit Your Story

Have a story, article, photo essay or video you’d like to have featured on the site? Here’s how to submit.  

  • First, fact-check your work, especially proper nouns (names of people, places, things, etc.) and numbers (addresses, ages, etc.).
  • Photos:
  • All submissions must include an accompanying image that correlates with the content. Include several high-quality, high-resolution photo options, including one that’s horizontal. Please do not send screenshots.
    • Original photos are preferred-–either ones you took yourself or that were provided to you by a person who has copyright for the picture. Include a photo credit regardless of who took it. Do not use an image without the permission of the person who took it or who holds copyright for it.
    • Photo essays must have a short introduction and captions for each photo.
    • Write an informative caption that is a full sentence.
    • Go here for an example of how to write a caption for a photo you took. If the writer had gotten permission to use a photo taken by someone else, the caption would read like this: Several attendees gathered in Jonquil Park for the Growing Boys’ set at 4:15 p.m. at the Grant Slam on May 10. Photo provided by (insert name of person who has copyright for the photo and gave you permission to use it).
    • You can use a copyright free photo from sites such as pexels.com or unsplash.com.
    • Video: Post the video on YouTube or a similar hosting site and send us the link. Write a short explanation of the video for context and include that in the email.

To Submit:

  • You don’t need to log in or register to submit a story, so please ignore the yellow button on the right side of this page.
  • Send an email to Betsy Edgerton at bedgerton@colum.edu with all required materials.  Attach your story in a Word document. Attach photos separately in the email. Include captions in the Word document and make sure it’s clear which caption goes with which picture.
  • No PDFs, Google docs or Google links, please!
  • If we think the content you created is a good fit for ChicagoTalks, our faculty advisor, Betsy Edgerton, will look through your piece and leave suggestions on the document while editing. If necessary, you will be asked to take the suggestions and edits into consideration and rewrite portions of your piece. 
  • Once your story is published, we will share the link with you.