Article Submission Guidelines

Geographically speaking, Conservation Magazine profiles happenings in Alberta. The best way to learn what constitutes a story publishable by Conservation Magazine is to read current issues, but keep in mind that we only accept fresh, new story ideas and angles and never regurgitate past material.

Articles submitted for publication should fulfill the promise of the author's query and, most importantly, the editor's assignment. Familiarize yourself with our publications to ensure your material is compatible with the magazine's format and needs.

Queries

Please query through email before submitting. Your query should explain the essence of your story and show why our readers would be interested. Indicate what photos and/or illustrations will accompany the story. Please send queries to Tara Holmwood at editor@ab-conservation.com, with a concise subject line indicating you are querying an idea to Conservation Magazine. Include your e-mail, telephone, or other contact information with each query.

New writers, or writers who have not yet written for Conservation Magazine, are encouraged to query with writing samples attached. Spec submissions will not be considered without an accompanying query.

Queries allow us to assign specific articles according to our needs. Even though you may have a fantastic article idea, we may have recently published a similar story or have one in our files.

Please follow these guidelines when writing:

  • Ensure your article is free of spelling errors (always follow the latest edition of the Canadian Press Stylebook).
  • Ensure your article is grammatically correct and accurate, and write tightly. Please adhere to the word count provided.
  • Use a friendly, informal, conversational tone.
  • Numbers, distances, amounts: make your facts interesting and relatable whenever possible, e.g., "A muskrat can swim underwater about 46 metres. Compare that to an Olympic-sized swimming pool, which is 50 metres in length." The more imagery we can convey to the reader, the better.
  • Suggest a headline and secondary headline, as well as paragraph headings when necessary.
  • Please single space your document, and submit it in a conventional font (Times or Times New Roman, 12 point).
  • Do not put two spaces after sentence punctuation; one space is all that is required. Please do not indent, tab, or include hard returns.
  • Please accompany your article with photography whenever possible (for more information, see “Photo Submissions” below).
  • If necessary, include relevant sidebars for additional information. Do not create a text box or highlight the information; simply leave one space, and title the proceeding information “SIDEBAR”.
  • Do not insert photos, graphs, or maps into your word documents.
  • Source your information.
  • Meeting deadlines is crucial; a missed deadline without prior approval can mean your manuscript will be rejected as publication schedules are tight.
  • Ensure photo support arrives by deadline and labelled appropriately. Submit an appropriate caption for each image (see “Photo Submissions” below for further details).

Stories are typically supplemented with sidebars, bulleted lists, subheads, pull quotes, and other graphic-friendly elements—please keep that in mind as you write.

Failure to follow these guidelines may result in the rejection of your manuscript.

Photo Submissions

In most cases, written stories are accompanied by photography, and bought as a package. Only digital photography is accepted. All photography must be taken at high-resolution (minimum 300 dpi). Fuzzy snapshots will not be considered.

How to Submit Photos

When submitting photos, graphs, or maps, please remember that all require captions, credits, and other pertinent information that connects the image to the story.

Please ensure your photographs include within the metatag what we are looking at and where and when it was taken.

Metatag examples:

  • a) Rainbow trout taken at Fort Saskatchewan Kids Can Catch, July 2015_Colin Eyo
  • b) Southern prairie grassland, east of Lethbridge, September 2014_Randy Lee
  • c) Kananaskis Mountain, July 2009_Don Myhre