Youth Today and our affiliate site JJIE (Juvenile Justice Information Exchange) welcome pitches on topics related to youth and young adults in the United States. We publish written, audio and visual journalism.
We’re looking for rigorously reported stories that center youth voices and hold public institutions and policymakers accountable or shed new light on issues facing young people.
- We are not reviewing story pitches or guest editorial submissions at this time.
- Please return to this page for updates after January 15, 2025.
Stories should be of interest to a broad, national audience of people who care about and often work with children and youth.
Topics we cover include:
• Child welfare, foster care and adoption
• Climate change
• Education and training
• Health and mental health
• Gun violence
• Juvenile justice
• Out-of-school time (afterschool and summer programs)
• Race, ethnicity and gender
• Homelessness
• Youth with disabilities
We publish many stories that don’t fit neatly into one of those topics. If you have a great story about children or young people in the United States, but aren’t sure if it fits in one of the areas listed above, please get in touch — email pitches@csjournalism.org!
Please note: We rarely publish stories about international issues, unless they intersect with newsworthy domestic issues. We publish a limited number of reported first-person stories and essays, but they must be thoroughly reported with multiple sources.
Writing an opinion piece?
If you’re looking to publish an essay based solely on your opinions, please see our guest opinion essay guidelines.
How to pitch us
To pitch a news story, send a brief email (about 200-400 words) to pitches@csjournalism.org. Your email should include:
• A proposed headline.
• A brief description of your story, including a working lead, nut graph, confirmed or potential sources and any relevant research or data.
• A short bio and links to previously published work.
If you don’t hear back from us within two weeks, feel free to follow up by email.
What we pay
We generally pay about $1/word for reported stories (most fall within 800-1,200 words) and $500 for the occasional Q&A with newsmakers and other less densely reported assignments.
We contract professional photojournalists at a standard day rate of $350 for still photos and approximately $1,400 for video stories.
We welcome pitches from experienced and emerging journalists, including journalists with disabilities or other lived experience in the areas we cover.
Story assignments
We occasionally contract with journalists for specific story assignments. If you’re interested in being considered, please email pitches@csjournalism.org with a brief bio, links to published clips and any specific topics you’re interested in covering. We’ll be in touch if we have a potential assignment.
