Writers Guidelines for The Pitch Pipe

Sweet Adelines International looks for positive, upbeat articles with an emphasis on chapter or member accomplishments that can be applied by other members to their activities. All submissions are reviewed for appropriateness by the editor, the editorial review board, and staff, who reserve the right to edit all materials as necessary.

Style Guide
The Pitch Pipe magazine follows the AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, which is a manual on publishing guidelines produced by the world's leading news agency. It is an essential handbook for all writers, editors, students and public relations specialists. The AP Style Web site provides fundamental guidelines on spelling, grammar, punctuation and usage.

The Pitch Pipe Submission Policy
If you would like to submit articles and story ideas to The Pitch Pipe, please e-mail Joey Mechelle Stenner at joey@sweetadelineintl.org or mail to P.O. Box 470168, Tulsa, OK 74147-0168. Each submission is considered for publication. However, not all submissions are published, due to myriad reasons including but not limited to space, deadlines, timing, need, appropriateness and subject matter. Occasionally submissions made to The Pitch Pipe are not suitable for the publication and are forwarded to regional newsletter editors or used in other Sweet Adelines International publications. Photos mailed along with the submission are only returned if accompanied with a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE). We receive hundreds of submissions a year and regret that we cannot respond to each submission.

General Writing Guidelines:
Articles should be typed, e-mailed, or sent in on disk. Care should be taken in providing correct spelling of names, accurate dates, scores, etc. The "who, what, when, where, why, and how" principle is a valid gauge for clarity and completeness.

Items for various departments (i.e., Chorus Beat, Quartet Spotlight, Young Women in Harmony) should be brief, approximately 75-150 words. An unusual item might warrant up to 250 words. If you have a photograph to go with your story, include it. Chances are much better that it will be published if there is a photograph included to illustrate it.

One page of typeset copy in The Pitch Pipe contains approximately 700 words, which allows room for headlines, photographs, or graphics. A normal double-spaced typewritten page contains about 250 words. Most feature articles in the magazine run from one to two pages in length. Unless a specific assignment has been given for a longer article, please stay within these parameters.

Photographs:

Only digital photos that are CMYK and at least 300 dpi will be used. Digital photos of a lower resolution will be considered only if they are able to be converted to a larger size without losing quality.

Include captions with all photos. Give a description of the activity and/or a listing of persons shown (by name and chapter).

Photos will be returned only if accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed return envelope.

Writers of feature articles are asked to submit a recent, portrait-style photograph for use with your article in the magazine. You may check with the Communications Department if you believe our files contain a usable photograph.

Deadlines:
January issue: November 1
April issue: February 1
July issue: May 15
October issue: July 15