A Guide to Pitching

Image credits: Pixabay

Bella Manfredi briefly introduces pitching articles to CUMFS, and what we look for in an article.

If you’ve never written an article or you’re a seasoned pro, we want you to write for us! We’re looking for submissions all year round on a casual basis: you submit a pitch whenever you’d like to write! There is no commitment and you can write as much or as little as you’d like. Anyone can pitch an idea- click here to submit yours, or email Bella (Social Media Officer) via ikm22@cam.ac.uk .

“I have no idea what to write!”

Despite the blog being open for various types of article, we’ve listed a few examples below to get you going.

  1. Opinion Pieces: disagree with a penalty that a team/driver has been given? Want to see more teams reducing their carbon footprint? Write an opinion piece for us and let others see your ideas.
  2. Spotlight Pieces: has a particular driver or race caught your eye? Why? Tell us more about it!
  3. Fun Pieces: whether it be a meme review or ‘5 ways in which a Cambridge degree feels like an F1 race’, we want your best comedic pieces! You take the wheel on this one, and make it as fun as you’d like!
  4. “Blast from the Past”: take us through a past race or event that stands out to you.
  5. Race Review/Race Preview: what should we be looking out for? Did something really interesting happen? Write about it!
  6. Other: you can pitch us anything and we’ll get back to you shortly!

It would be impossible to list every idea (and I definitely don’t have the time to do this!) so do take creative reign a little on your pitches.

“Okay, I know what I want to write about but have no idea how to pitch it.”

Pitching can be scary- I know this! A good pitch is short and to the point. Things you could include are:

  • outline the topic of your article/ area of interest- be as specific as you like, but this does help.
  • why you’re the best person to write this article/ any experience you have writing (not essential at all, and we’d still love to work with you!)
  • why you want to write this article
  • anything else you feel is necessary

Try and keep pitches between 100-200 words, but don’t worry if pitching isn’t for you! Just drop us a message and outline your article however you wish. It is good getting experience doing a formal pitch, but we’ll just be happy to hear from you.

“I’ve pitched my article, now what?”

If you haven’t already written your article, write it now! In terms of recommended word count, it can vary. Opinions pieces may be 500-600 words, whilst longer analytical articles may be 1000+. We’re all busy students so don’t worry if you need longer to get an article to us, prioritise your degree first! Once finished, send your article to Bella (email above) for editing, and it should shortly be uploaded to the blog.

We can’t wait to see al of your submissions!