Submit a Letter to the Editor or Guest Column

As part of our mission to help identify and discuss important local issues and solutions to current local problems, we welcome your letters and columns. We appreciate your willingness to share your perspective. Your voice matters.

Sadly, we can’t publish every letter or column that we receive, but we do read and are grateful for every submission. Sometimes, your letters make The Gazette editorial board and staff aware of an issue we hadn’t known about. Always, they help us understand what people are thinking and saying in the community.

For publication, we especially look for letters and columns that share a unique perspective; that make us think. We look for writers who have spent time and attention developing their own opinions, rather than simply repeating other people’s arguments. Write in your own voice. We’re much more interested in why you feel the way you do than in what you think is wrong with people who disagree with you.

We work hard to select a diversity of voices, perspectives and views. We give first priority to local authors discussing local issues.

We expect writers to be civil and straightforward. Satire is a difficult skill to master, sarcasm rarely is persuasive and, as your mother no doubt has told you, name calling is just plain rude.

Use logic and reasoning to support your opinions. Facts and figures are great, but give them context (and include the sources with your submission). If you do make a factual error we’ll work with you to fix it before publication. If the error is discovered after publication, we’ll issue a correction.

Submissions must come from individuals, even when they represent a group or organization’s opinion. We do not print news releases or promotional material, form letters or third-party letters, poetry or petitions.

When you submit your opinion, it might be several days before we’re able to review it. We thank you in advance for your patience.

When we select a piece for publication, we edit it for length, redundancy, clarity, civility and accuracy. If we have substantive changes, we’ll get your approval before we publish the edited version. Our intent in editing never is to change your opinion, but to ensure your views are clear and easy to understand.

Submission checklist:

Did I:

• Write it myself and stay within the maximum word limit (250 words for a letter; 400-600 words for a column)?
• Include my full name, address and daytime phone number for verification?
• Write about an issue of local importance?
• Offer solutions to the problems I am addressing, when possible?
• Use plain language, spelling out acronyms and explaining any specialized jargon?
• Focus on my own thoughts and opinions, without making false and damaging statements about another person?
• Include sources of facts that I used in support of my argument?

To submit, please fill out the form below or send your submission via email or mail to “Letter to the Editor”, 116 3rd St. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401