Your print story or article must be 1,200 words or less and can include up to six images. Format for the writing must be .txt or .doc. and photos/pics must be .jpg. Your story can be a personal essay of discovery or include quotes from people you’ve interviewed. Double check any important facts.

General Writing Tips

It’s important to remember that writing for the Internet is different from writing for a print magazine. Web readers typically scan the page, so use short sentences and paragraphs. Use sub-headings and bullet lists, if necessary to make it easier for readers. We are strong believers in the value of plain language, and we may contact you to edit your work to eliminate academic or business jargon. Add rich detail to your writing. Tell us where your grandfather learned to play the fiddle. Instead of “The MacDonalds of Bayfield had a big family”, write “Gramma and Grandpa MacDonald raised twelve children on their farm in Bayfield.”

Submitting Photo Albums or Digital Albums

If you have many strong photos, you can create a photo album. Give your album a title. Example: Farmer Bob Jones works his land near Bayfield, Nova Scotia. Each photo requires a caption, such as Bob Jones doing mechanical work on his vintage tractor. Pictures must be in a .jpg format to help reduce the overall file size. Follow the rules for photos described above in Submitting Print Stories. REMEMBER: If you are including photos of other people, be sure to get their permission. Follow the rules for video described above in Submitting video stories. Digital stories are also stored in an account owned by PARNS.

Digital albums are really multimedia projects that enhance still images with additional text, music, and audio. Follow the rules for video described in Submitting Video Stories. Digital stories are also stored in an account owned by PARNS.

Submitting Faces

On the People’s Archive of Rural India site there is a section called FACES, “an ambitious attempt to create a facial map” of rural India. We would like to do the same on our site. We want to collect interesting faces of at least one adult male, one adult female and one child or adolescent from every county (18) and the district divisions within them, including regional municipalities (2), rural municipalities (21) and villages (22). Anyone can participate, provided the photograph is a minimum of 100 pixels per square inch, 500 x 564 pixels and saved as a .jpg. The photographs have to be just of the face and neck and of high quality. We also require the following details on the person in the picture:

  •  NAME- full name
  • OCCUPATION(s) – include a complete list
  • AGE
  • COUNTY or residence
  • VILLAGE/TOWN- (nearest)
  • DATE- when the photo was taken
  • PHOTOGRAPHER- your name
  • CAMERA- the model of the camera used to take the shot
  • QUOTE – brief quote from the person if he or she would life to share one

Rules

  • The article must lead with a photo. There is therefore a minimum requirement of one photo per article
  • The Article must have a strong ,compelling title, and lead with a strong photo
  • Photos must be in 16:9 ratio (commonly known as widescreen format) and be a minimum size of 1000 pixels wide by 563 pixels high
  • Minimum upload resolution for photos of the above size is 100 dpi (dots per inch) although older material can be displayed if necessary at 72dpi
  • All photos must have a caption
  • All photos must have a credit. If all photos share the same credit, that credit should be shown at the bottom of the page, after the attribution
  • One of these photos must be used as a featured image. That photo will show up on the front page (and category views) for the article, as well as being the default image selected by social media when the article is shared
  • Attribution for the article must be placed at the bottom of the article (see below)