Submit your work

On The Record is proud to publish high quality student journalism which helps inform our community on important issues and which gives UniSA journalism students excellent pieces for their portfolios. Published journalism is highly valued by employers.

On The Record accepts news reports, feature articles, investigative and other kinds of in-depth stories, commentary/criticism, profiles and reviews from UniSA students. We accept articles across the following categories, but are not limited to them:

• Arts and Culture
• Community and Local
• Diversity and Identity
• Environment and Climate Change
• First Nations
• Politics
• Food
• Lifestyle
• Regional and Rural
• Sport
• Technology
• Travel

We particularly encourage First Nations journalism students, and other, generally marginalised voices among UniSA journalism students, to pitch stories.

News stories should be no more than 700 words and features/investigations should be a maximum of 2,500 words and preferably closer to 1,500.

How to pitch your story to OTR

Pitching is a skill all journalism students should develop and be comfortable doing. The best way to pitch your story is during the weekly editorial meetings.

In 2024 SP2 the editorial meetings take place on Wednesdays, 11-11:30am in room MAG C2-22.

Alternatively, if you can’t make the news meeting, send an email. We want to know what is special about your story and why you should be the one to write it for On The Record.

If you are pitching an event/show review, please note that we require reviews to be submitted for editing within two days of attending the event/seeing the show. 

What to include:

1. An engaging subject line that gets to the point
2. Brief information about you: your name, what program you’re studying and how far along you are. Please confirm here whether or not you have completed COMM 2076: Media Law and Ethics.
3. Your topic. We want to be clear on exactly what the topic is, what insight you have on the topic and what perspectives you plan to include. Do you already have your sources and interviews lined up?
4. A suggested word count (as above news stories should be no more than 700 words and features/investigations should be a maximum of 2,500 words and preferably closer to 1,500).
5. Suggested timeframe. Let our editor know how quickly you can turn it around and whether there is any reason it should be published on a specific date. Note that reviews must be submitted for editing within 2 days of the attending the event/show.
6. Confirmation of tutor feedback (if applicable). Since our writers are all students, if your story was submitted for assessment and you have received feedback from your tutor you should have adapted your story accordingly. Please let us know if this is the case.
7. Appropriate visuals. On The Record has strict rules around the ethical and copyright free use of images. We prefer students to either take their own or source royalty free images. Please specify where you have sourced your images from and provide credit for any supplied images, even if they’re royalty free.

If you’ve already written the story, you are able to attach it with your pitch, but it is not a requirement to have written the story before pitching.

Do not send a story without having made sure it is consistent with the style guide used by On The Record and do not send any story without first having ensured you have gone through the OTR checklist for publication:

.
Grundy, B, et al. So You Want to be a Journalist?: Unplugged, Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp 145.

Where do I pitch to?

You can send your email pitches to On The Record at ontherecord.unisa@gmail.com

It is the appropriate convention to address your email to the current head editor, which you can find on the About page. Once we have received your pitch, we’ll aim to respond within the week. Remember, we’re all students too – many of whom have busy schedules of our own –  it’s okay to send a follow-up email if you have not heard back.

If your story is taken on, it will be sub-edited for content, structure and clarity by a member of our editorial team. This process allows us to deliver constructive feedback to you, and make sure all published content adheres to our style and production standards.

Please note that the requirements for publication are often different to the requirements for an assignment and so you may be asked to make significant changes even if you have already received a high grade for your work.