Juvenile Justice Information Exchange Freelance Market Guide
Created July 20, 2022 | Revised Aug. 15, 2023
Fees: These partner publications publish articles about issues affecting children, youth and young adults. Pay is generally $1/word for in-depth, reported stories and about $500 for single-source Q&As.
Submit to: Email pitches@csjournalism.org
Websites: https://youthtoday.org, https://jjie.org
Owner: Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University
Readership demographics: Youth Today’s audience is people who care about (and work with) children and youth. That includes people who work in education, after-school programs, child welfare, youth development, juvenile justice and other fields as well as policymakers and parents. The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange’s audience is people who work in the juvenile justice system or are/have been affected by it.
Frequency of publication: Original reporting is posted several times a week.
What they look for in a pitch: Youth Today looks for rigorously reported stories that center youth voices and hold public institutions and policymakers accountable or shed new light on issues facing young people. Stories should be of interest to a broad, national audience of people who care about and often work with children and youth. Topics covered include: child welfare, foster care and adoption; education and training; health and mental health; juvenile justice; out-of school time (afterschool and summer programs); and youth with disabilities. Youth Today publishes written, audio and visual journalism. The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange focuses exclusively on the juvenile justice system. Stories should also center youth voices and be of interest to a national audience.
Pitches should be 200 to 400 words long and include a working lead; nut graf; confirmed or potential sources; and hyperlinks to relevant research and other data. Freelancers new to the publications should submit links to a few clips.
What they look for in writers: “We want people who know the structure of a story and whether a lede should be anecdotal or straight ahead,” said Assistant Editor Katti Gray. She wants to work with writers who can craft stories with a strong narrative and strong flow.
“We also want people who know how to be collaborative in the edit process. We edit rigorously,” Gray said. And if a writer produces paid content, they must understand conflicts of interests and when it is not appropriate to pitch a story.
Do they welcome pre-pitches?: No, they don’t. Just send the pitch, said Gray.
Most common mistakes editors see with pitches: The sites rarely publish personal essays.
Lead time for pitches: One of the editors will get back to the writer with a yea or nay within two weeks. Writers are given several weeks to complete a story. Writers are welcome to follow up on pitches if they haven’t heard back.
Is there a best place to break into the publication?: “Not really. We’re just looking for good work,” said Gray.