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Writers Guidelines

Interfaith Houston welcomes guest bloggers, in fact they are what make us so unique. If you have a passion about interfaith work, want to talk about a cause or a topic close to your heart, or you like exploring the Houston interfaith scene, we'd be honored to provide a platform for you to be heard. We recommend that before writing a full length post, send us a story idea or pitch at interfaithhouston@gmail.com. We'll let you know if it's okay to submit. We don't automatically reject full blog posts, though, so if you have already written a piece go ahead it send it to us at the same address. We'll let you know in a week.

While we love guest bloggers, we like setting rules too. Here are some basic writers' guidelines; we reserve the right to reject a submission if any of them are not followed:

• All blog posts must conform to our mission and theme; this means no proselytizing of any kind, and any mention of scriptures must be relevant and appropriate.
• Offensive language or hate speech will be edited; we reserve the right to determine whether specific language is offensive or not.
• Blog posts must be within 600-900 words in length for opinion pieces; 300-500 for news reports. Longer and shorter posts will also be accepted from time to time.
• Posts must be accompanied by a short bio of the writer.
• Posts should include at least one image; if no images are included, we reserve the right to add our own.
• We prefer original writing that has not been published anywhere else. We also accept previously published pieces, as long as proper credit with link is included in the post. If you are submitting a previously published piece please mention this clearly in your email.

Topics of interest to us (you may use one of these as a starting point for your pitch, or come up with your own ideas):

• Discussion of current social and political events relating to religious freedom. Preference will be given to local and state events, but national events of importance are welcome as well.
• Commentary on relevant national studies or surveys and how they relate to local communities.
• Interviews of interfaith volunteers/leaders in the community or reporting of interfaith events.
• Youth activities, Islamophobia, intra-faith tolerance, climate change, and other time-sensitive topics.
• Scripture highlights or comparisons that help bridge religious divides. Quote scripture wisely and make sure it doesn't comes across as preaching!
• Best practices of successful interfaith programs.
• Personal stories of interfaith understanding and efforts.

Who May Write

We don't care what gender, race, religion (or lack thereof) or sexual orientation you belong to. If you have something to say and you're a good writer, go ahead and send us a pitch. We especially want to give young people a chance to share their ideas, so if you are below the age of 30 we want to hear from you! Whatever your age, ideally you'll be located in the Greater Houston area, but that's not always necessary. You can write about local issues from far away, and can certainly write about national issues that effect all interfaith efforts in Houston and beyond. Good luck!

How to Submit

Submissions must be made to interfaithhouston@gmail.com. We reserve the right to edit any submissions for clarity and brevity.