Submit A Story
Gleaner Information
Got a story about what your local church, school, or ministry is doing? We want to hear about it!
How to Write for The Gleaner
Submission Guidelines
- All submissions are subject to the approval of the UCC communications department. We reserve the right to edit, use, or not use any submissions.
- Submissions that are coauthored or require rewriting will be credited as a “contributed report.”
- In general, we do not publish opinion pieces, sermons, open letters, political commentary, or works of fiction.
- If you have questions regarding our submission guidelines, please contact news@uccsda.org.
Content & Subject Matter
- For the Gleaner, we typically cover stories illustrating mission and ministry activities of churches, schools, and ministries within Upper Columbia Conference.
- For reference, an archive of the Upper Columbia Conference’s section of the Gleaner is available online here.
- Stories selected for the Gleaner are subject to the approval of the UCC communications department.
Word Count
- For print stories, the word count guidelines are:
- Sidebar: 150–200 words, one image
- Half page: 200–250 words, one image
- Full page: 350–500 words, 1–3 photos (less words, more photos)
- Two pages, 600–850 words, 2–5 photos (less words, more photos)
- UCC's section of the printed Gleaner contains 5 pages.
- In most cases, a full page article is preferred.
Style & Editing
- Refer to the Gleaner’s information on style and content here.
- In any style of writing, include quotes from people relevant to your story, such as event organizers, volunteers, community members, public officials, etc. Two or more sources is preferred.
- We are here to help! We edit stories sent to us before submitting to the Gleaner and can provide feedback on stories if requested.
News vs. Feature Stories
- The Gleaner is comprised of both news and feature stories, know which category your story falls under before you start writing.
- For news articles, start off with one or two sentences that summarize the news you are reporting. Begin with the most important and foundational details that answer the questions of who, what, when, where, and why.
- For feature stories, write in an active style to present information through a short narrative. While less objective, feature stories should still present newsworthy information about a person, place, or event.
Photos
- All stories require at least 1 high quality horizontal image, but including more photos is always preferred.
- Submit all photos with a caption explaining the content of the picture and names (if known) of anyone pictured, and photo credits for who took the picture.
Times and Dates
- Avoid using vague language such as “recently” or “last month.” By the time a story is published it will most likely not have been “recent” or “last month.”
How to submit
- Submit your story at: news.uccsda.org/UCsubmission
- When submitting to the Gleaner, you must include your Name, select your Conference (Upper Columbia Conference), and provide an email address.
- Upload your story as either a Word document (.docx preferred) or a PDF.
- Upload one or more photos. Allowed file types for photos includes: .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .eps, and .tif
- Leave a message with any relevant details or instructions.
