Call for Pitches

The Sask Dispatch is looking for pitches for both its print publication and website. Broadly, we're always looking for pitches covering provincial and municipal elections, grassroots activism, Indigenous rights, arts and culture, economic justice, ecology, gender equity, harm reduction, and more. We generally accept pitches on a rolling basis, with no set deadline. 

There are some specific topics we'd like to expand our coverage on, including more stories from and about rural communities, arts and culture (editor's note: I'd really like to see a pitch about who has access to arts and culture, specifically as it relates to rural communitites), and grassroots activism. 

Right now we have two more specific topics/themes we'd like pitches for and that have set deadlines:

Provincial Election 
With the provincial election set for October 28, 2024, we would like to highlight the pressing issues voters are bringing to the polls this year. The Sask Party has been in power since 2007 and though there have been issues in the past, this last calendar year has seen several instances of public frustration, from the parental inclusion and consent policies last fall to the nearly year long Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation bargaining. Over their tenure, they've also struggled to balance their budgets and have cut public services such as the Saskatchewan Transportation Company and much of their funding to post-secondary institutions. However, there is also disappintment with the direction the NDP has taken, too. Although Saskatchewan has historically been a two party province, also on the ballot will be candidates from the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan, the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Green Party, the Saskatchewan Progress party, and the Saskatchewan United Party. 

Suggested topics for pitches include: comparisons of all running parties' platforms, profiles on underreported or new candidates, the philosophy of "parachuting" candidates into constituencies, why the NDP has struggled with winning the rural vote, highlighting grassroots efforts for political change, how labour issues might impact the election outcome, etc. 

Deadline for these pitches is August 15.

Labour Issues
To complement Briarpatch's themed labour Nov/Dec issue, we would like to have stories covering the state of labour in Saskatchewan. This can include the state of unions in Saskatchewan, what people are experiencing while job hunting, types of jobs available and current working conditions, post-secondary education and its impact on job hunting in Saskatchewan, etc. 

Deadline for these pitches is August 31. 

Pitches can be sent to amielle [at] briarpatchmagazine.com and more information on what we look for in a pitch can be found here.