Want to contribute to Runner’s World? We want to hear from you. We’re passionate about surfacing stories from all corners of the running world, and from all walks of life. Everyone is welcome in the pages of Runner’s World.
However, we understand that it might be confusing knowing how to share your story or article idea with us, especially if you have never pitched before. So, we’ve introduced these guidelines to help ensure everyone has a fair and equal chance of working with us.
How to pitch to Runner’s World
Step 1: Do your research
Where do you want your story to be published? Is it a great story for the website or a longer-read feature for the magazine? It also helps to have a browse of our website first or read some issues of the magazine – have an idea where your story might sit and what it would bring to that section.
It’s also worth checking whether we have done something similar before. If you enter ‘site:runnerworld.com/uk’ into a search engine, along with your topic, this should give you a good idea. (i.e. Google: ‘site:runnersworld.com/uk London Marathon’ and you’ll see what content we have on the London Marathon) It’s not that we will never publish something else on that topic again, we would just need any new pitches to be different, with a fresh new angle that doesn’t repeat other content.
Step 2: Perfect your pitch
The best way to pitch is to email the correct person (addresses below) including:
Published: 01 September 2020.
A summary of no more than 200-250 words, explaining what your pitch is and why you’re the person to write it. What’s your unique angle here? How would you go about writing and researching it? Which experts would you speak to? What case studies would you contact? If it’s a first-person story, how would you tell it? And why do you think the Runner’s World audience would love to read it?
Lastly, it would also be great to see what you’ve written before, especially anything relevant to this pitch or our brand. It doesn’t have to be polished, but 2-3 links or examples that give us a taste of your style, whether it’s your blog, a published article or social media, would be great.
In the subject line please write the word ‘PITCH’. Our editors receive a lot of emails each day and this way we can spot pitches more easily. Try to keep your pitch as short as possible (200-250 words). We can always come back and ask more questions if we need to. Please don’t submit full articles – we will never ask you to submit a full feature speculatively. We like to be able to work collaboratively with our contributors on the content we commission and publish – pre-written pieces rarely work.
Step 3: What’s next?
We receive lots of pitches, and so unfortunately we aren’t always able to get back to everyone. We are usually only able to get back to successful ideas, or pieces where we have follow-up questions. Please be patient - it might take a while to see if an idea will fit within the print pages or online.
If an editor likes your idea, they may get back to you asking for more information or commission you with a brief (outlining what we want), a deadline and proposed fee.
We expect any work you send us to be fact-checked and accurate, with sources cited clearly, and for any submissions we receive to be your original work.
Contacts for pitching
Magazine features
These are the longer reads (typically 4-8 pages) found in the features section in middle of the print magazine. Features can be about anything to do with running, but the ones that tend to work best are interviews or profiles with notable or interesting runners, stories about running culture and history, or features on big subjects that relate to running. Think hard about what will make it relevant a few months from now. Is there a new way you could approach a topic everyone is talking about?
Pitch to: [email protected]
Magazine Human Race section
These tend to be shorter pieces (1-3 pages), focused on human interest stories related to running – the section strap line is ‘news, views, trends and ordinary runners doing extraordinary things’. Stories cover everything from running groups, amazing challenges, personal achievements, weight-loss case studies, and just interesting, odd or funny running-related stuff.
Pitch to: [email protected]
Magazine Coach section
As its name suggests, this section is designed to help you improve. Coach pieces tend to be around 1-3 pages, and are focused on training, nutrition, general health and motivation advice – all the key areas that can help you live and run better. The pieces are heavily based on expert input and research in the relevant fields, so readers can trust the advice works.
Pitch to: [email protected]
Web articles
The Runner’s World website is a destination for all runners looking for news, reviews, advice, training plans, the latest tech and everything else in between, so there’s a huge range of topics to cover. We’re not looking for round-ups or explainers generally, because these are the types of things already being worked on by our in-house team. Instead, we want to hear about case study-led features, fascinating first-person stories, or unique feature angles hooked on relevant news stories or developments. There are lots of brilliant stories out there, but we want to know exactly what you’re going to bring to it that makes it new/interesting/timely, why you feel it’s best suited to our readership, and why you’re best-placed to write it.
Pitch to: [email protected]
Becoming a freelance contributor
As well as one-off writing commissions, we do have some limited opportunities for freelance work from time-to-time.
Writing for the website
To ensure our website is up-to-date with the latest news, our full-time editorial team is supported by a small pool of freelancers. These contributors must be comfortable writing across all verticals on our website. You should have previous experience of writing running-related content and be familiar with using content management systems to upload your stories. Experience with Photoshop or other photo-editing tools and a basic understanding of media law as it applies to digital content, are also a definite plus.
If this sounds like you and you would like to be considered the next time we are looking to expand our pool of regular freelancers, send your CV and a brief covering email of no more than 200 words, to [email protected]
Video, design and multimedia contributors
Are you a video editor or motion graphics designer/animator available for freelance work? We’d love to hear from you! We are looking for creative masterminds who understand the Runner’s World brand and aesthetic, with previous experience in this field. If you would like to be considered for freelance video opportunities or design and motion graphics opportunities across our website and social channels, please email a copy of your CV and showreel (or 2-3 links to or examples of your work) to: [email protected]
Please note opportunities are extremely limited due to budget and we will be in touch as and when a relevant project or opening is available.
Photographers and illustrators
If you would like to be considered for freelance photographic or illustration opportunities within the magazine or website, please send your portfolio, website or Instagram link to: [email protected]
Published: 01 September 2020 Hearst website and LinkedIn, in addition to the Runner’s World website and LinkedIn. We also recommend following Hearst’s BAME Network here and here Best winter running gear here, as well as Hearst’s main accounts.
