BUUF News Submissions

Submissions guidelines

Article length: 200-250 words. Remember, your article is more likely to be read if it is brief. Only send basic text; do not format. Articles are edited for grammar, spelling, clarity, appropriateness, and length. Include your contact information in case we need to clarify content. We reserve the right to reject any article that is not in a Unitarian Universalist spirit.

If you have specific formatting requests, please put them at the beginning of the article in brackets []. The editor will do his or her best to accommodate you. Templates (such as you would find in Word or Excel) will not be accepted. Consider using bold and italics to attract the readers' eye.

All articles must be submitted to the newsletter editor, Jennifer Grush-Dale at by noon on the third Thursday of the month. Articles submitted after the deadline will be held for the next issue.

Photos, please! Nothing attracts attention to your event or article more than photos. If you have a digital camera and a way to email me your photos, that's all you need! When sending a photo, please include the following information: who is in the photo, where it was taken, what event was happening (if it was an event) and who took the photo. The editor can then write the caption from there. If this a group photo & it would be too difficult to name everyone in the photo, you can just give me the name of the group (Boston Bounders, Children's RE 3 & 4 graders, etc).

Can this article be turned into an ad? Ads will attract a reader's attention, so consider this option. If you would prefer an ad, please send the basic info, along with any photo or clipart. The editor will design it. I encourage you to get your ad to me as early as possible; designing them takes more time.

DO NOT imbed art within text. If a piece of artwork, clipart or a photo is included in that special formatting, please send that art as a separate file.

INSERTS: as a matter of policy we will now strictly curtail the use of inserts. Only certain items can be included as inserts. They must be emailed to the newsletter editor by the 3rd TUESDAY of the month. Please keep formatting to a minimum. Templates (such as you would find in Word or Excel) will not be accepted. Please also include any graphics, clipart or photographs you want to be included. If it is similar to a previous year's document, referencing that is helpful.

Helpful Hints for Writing & Submitting Articles

Be sure the article answers the basic questions:
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?

Center your article on the readers' question, "What does this mean to me?" or, more crudely, "Why do I care?" Keep your article as people oriented as possible.

Use active voice. "The ushers collected the offering." rather than "The offering was collected by the ushers."

Is this timely? Is this the best place for this information? If it a committee report, for example, could you submit 50 words about the report & then refer interested readers to another location to read the entire report?

Please do not submit items for the September, December, and May issues if they are not time-sensitive. Those issues tend to get overwhelmed by the beginning of the program year, the winter holiday season festivities, and the summer activities respectively. Your item is more likely to be skipped over during those months.

The summer months are a great time to give thanks to those who have worked hard. There is more space in those issues (especially July and August) to put just a little more detail about the good deeds or projects people take on during the year.

Regular Columns & Section Headings

The following columns/section headings are included most issues. Those marked with an * are in every issue. Other material is included on a space available basis:

If there is not an item for a particular section, that heading will be left out of that issue. Not every section will have items in it every issue. The editor makes the determination where a particular article or item shall be placed.

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