Criteria For Create Change Submissions

At Create Change we strive to generate compelling content and unvarnished perspectives, showing how people are using their talents, creativity and personal stories to raise awareness for social responsibility. We know there are many talented people in our community so if you’d like to share your creative media with us we welcome it, wholeheartedly! We accept all kinds of submissions, including writing, photography, artwork, music and video, which you can share with us at createchange.me/submission.

One of our favorite ways to connect with our Create Change community is through the publication of informative articles and meaningful essays. Our global membership is made up of people from many diverse backgrounds, presenting great opportunities for us to hear all kinds of perspectives on a wide range of issues. As our community continues to grow, we’re receiving more and more writing submissions—and we love this!

Because we’re seeing an increase in participation, we thought now would be a good time to share some guidance about writing submissions. One of the primary things we’re looking for is how the writer’s story can connect with our growing community. Our hope is that our readers will be enlightened, perhaps even learning something new when reading your story.

We don’t follow any set criteria when reviewing submissions. There is no minimum or maximum word count, but 250 – 1,000 words is an ideal range for us. We want to hear about your personal experiences and game changing life stories told in your unique tone-of-voice, but rants are not appropriate. We’re looking for original content so if your article or essay has been previously published or posted somewhere else, including on social media, we typically won’t be able to publish it on our Create Change website.

While we are open to many ideas and perspectives, we recognize that issues related to religion and faith are extremely personal and they must be treated with a great deal of sensitivity. As a result, out of respect for everyone in our global and very diverse community, Create Change has elected to refrain from publishing articles and social media posts with overt religious messages.

It’s also important to understand that Create Change is an organization focusing on artistic endeavors and community activities that are making positive impacts in the world. We are not a fan site. As key leaders in our organization, Nathan West/EOE (CEO) and Chyler Leigh (CCO) want our articles to feature outstanding change creators and essays from community members with unique stories to tell. While they genuinely appreciate and value their admirers, Nathan and Chyler don’t want Create Change to become a “fandom website” for people to share love for them and their artistic endeavors. We encourage you to share fan appreciation on your own social media and blogging platforms, and you can also post your eoeXperiences on our EOE FORUM.

Submission For Non-Native English Speakers

If English is your second (or third) language we still encourage you to send us your writing submissions. As we’ve said, Create Change is a global community, so please don’t hesitate to send your work, regardless of whether or not English is your primary language. We want to hear from you. Create Change is happy to publish your submission in your native language, and if selected we will work with you to post an English translation alongside your native language piece.

General Writing Tips

We don’t want you to be afraid to send your work because you think it’s “not good enough”. We’re always happy to help with editing, however we do have some helpful proofreading hints to consider prior to sending your submission:

1. Double check for spelling and punctuation errors.
2. Be careful not to use fragmented sentences. A reader should be able to read each sentence as a complete and clear thought.
3. Avoid switching tenses. You don’t want to have one part of a sentence or thought written in the past tense and another part of the sentence/thought written in the present tense.
4. As a general rule, try to avoid using the same word twice in the same sentence or twice within two back-to-back sentences.
5. When possible, split long paragraphs into more and shorter paragraphs. It helps the article flow a bit more smoothly, making it easier to read (very long paragraphs tend to lose a reader’s focus).
6. If possible, have someone else review it your draft. Often times another person will spot little errors the writer misses.
7. Ask yourself, “Did I credit all my sources appropriately?” Plagiarizing is unacceptable, so credit all your source material, even if it’s just a quote. List and link your sources whenever possible.

We’re happy to provide a platform for your to share your thoughts, your perspectives and your art. We really do want to hear from you, so don’t hesitate to send creative submissions of all kinds.

—CC

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You can view our submission agreement at createchange.me/submission-agreement