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Send an opinion essay to The Ubyssey

The Ubyssey accepts opinion essays from students, faculty, staff and members of the extended university community. For letters to the editor, see this form.
A note to students: opinion essays are a very different genre of writing from what we write in our classes (e.g. term papers). The Opinion Editor will support you throughout the process, but do be aware that it is not like academic writing.

About you

What is your full name?

What is your email address?

What is your relationship to the University of British Columbia?

Are you pitching something on behalf of yourself or on behalf of a group?

Your pitch or submission

Do you have a completed draft?

Especially if you're a first-time contributor, we strongly prefer you send us a pitch first.

Please describe what experiences or expertise you have that are relevant to this topic.

Authority is constructed and contextual. Kindly help us understand how you're an authority on this topic and what inspires you to write this essay.

Ethics and standards

On fact-checking: We do not publish anything we cannot verify. We annotate every article internally so that every claim of fact is associated with a footnote. This might include providing us with supporting documentation that is not intended for publication. If we accept your pitch or submission, can we count on you to help us do this?

Our fact-checking process was developed from the Truth in Journalism Fact-Checking Guide. Learn more at: https://thetijproject.ca/.
On fact-checking: We do not publish anything we cannot verify. We annotate every article internally so that every claim of fact is associated with a footnote. This might include providing us with supporting documentation that is not intended for publication. If we accept your pitch or submission, can we count on you to help us do this?

On anonymity: Journalism has a very different relationship with anonymity from rules-free and nameless social media. Authors are always known to us, and anonymity is reserved for only those who would face specific, plausible risks of unreasonable harm if their writing were attributed to them.

Most professional newsrooms automatically reject opinion pitches and submissions that are not signed by their writers, even partially. We have a more progressive policy, but we still ration the use of anonymous bylines. If you are worried about any potential consequences that may result from writing for us, send us an email at opinion@ubyssey.ca.
On anonymity: Journalism has a very different relationship with anonymity from rules-free and nameless social media. Authors are always known to us, and anonymity is reserved for only those who would face specific, plausible risks of unreasonable harm if their writing were attributed to them.