1. Any material that has been submitted to us is used for free online publication and entitles us to a licence to : check, publish, edit or remove contents at our own discretion.
2. Content submitted to us may be modified for editorial purposes.
3. Any material that has been forwarded to us for inclusion on our website must be original and from the author who submitted the work.
4. Material that infringes another persons copyright will automatically be removed.
5. If material submitted to us contains quotes or references, the author, date and publication in which the material was obtained must be acknowledged.
6. If this includes an online source a link must be supplied.
7. You may not submit any material that is:
i. Offensive or derogatory in nature and may cause distress to
individuals or groups
ii. That is obscene, or indecent;
iii. Encourages or promotes violence, religious hatred, and
racial and sexual abuse.
Article
1. Articles should be between 500-800 words with an appropriate title.
2. Subject matter should be relevant to an African audience.
3. They should cover stories from a local or national perspective.
4. Any submissions should deal with current issues, but a contrast can be made between then and now, for example.
5. Quotes should be used sparingly.
Video Journalism
1. Video should be between 1-4 minutes in length
2. The interviewer can either appear once in the report or not at all.
3. It should not exceed three Vox-Pops.
4. Be as creative as you can with interviews.
5. Promotional video will automatically be rejected.
6. There must be engagement between the interviewer and interviewee.
7. Once your video has been accepted, you will be sent a unique identity and this should be signposted at the bottom of the screen as the video plays.
DOCUMENTARIES
1. These should be creative with different angles and be between 10-30 minutes in length.
2. Videos are uploaded in ten-minute sections, therefore a thirty minute video should be submitted in three parts.
3. The topic of discussion should be established before filming starts.
4. The use of voice overs should be minimised with the majority of the presenting on-camera.
PHOTO-JOURNALISM
1. The use of new devices such as audio slide-shows is encouraged.
2. They combine: photography, audio and video to communicate a story.
3. Slide-shows should be 2-5 minutes in length.
4. Voice-overs used in the slide-show should tell a story rather than communicate what is shown in the photograph.
5. If you prefer to submit photographs, they should be of good quality and saved in a JPEG format with a short description attached at the bottom.
6. You should also submit an introductory paragraph that is no more than 300 words in length.
WHERE TO SEND THEM
Forward submissions or ideas for the attention of the editor to
Submit an article
Important Note:
While contributors are not paid for their submission, they do receive exposure for their writing. IQ4News does have future plans to implement a mechanism that allows contributors to make money from their profile on the website.
There are presently no deadlines, however, contributors are encouraged to make a submission bi-weekly or at least twice in a month.
All contributors are required to register with IQ4News so that their articles are submitted using their profile.
