We welcome article and content submissions from around the community that may be of relevance and interest to our readers. This includes editorial columns, letters to the editor, events, photographs and story ideas with some kind of local focus or connection.

(For using classified ads or other kinds of advertising to help ensure your submission appears in the paper, please read about advertising with the Western Wayne News.)

We are not able to respond to or publish everything we receive. If you would like to check with us before preparing your submission to see if it would be of interest, please get in touch and we’ll do our best to respond with further guidance.

Story Ideas and News Tips

If you have an idea for a story you think we should be covering, please get in touch (see below about “How to Submit”). Because we are a small team trying to cover many different aspects of community life every week, we may not be able to act on your idea soon, or at all, but we do want to hear from our readers and community members as we plan our coverage.

We are more likely to be able to pursue story ideas that come with some details, such as the names of the people or organizations involved, their contact information, and why the story is of value and importance to Wayne County residents. Please send us time-sensitive items as early as possible; we prefer having several weeks notice or more for events and special meetings.

If your news tip is about a sensitive or confidential matter, please contact us using a personal email address or phone number that is not subject to monitoring in corporate or government environments. For additional security, message us using encrypted communications via Signal at username ChrisHardie.12.

Press Releases

Submitting a press release can be a great way to help the WWN tell the story of an announcement, event, organizational update or other news. Busy reporters like to receive well-written, timely and thorough press releases because they give us a head start on our own reporting. Please make sure your press release includes contact information for any needed follow-up.

Submitting a press release does not guarantee that the information will be published in any particular edition of the paper, or at all. If we do use your press release, it will likely be rewritten or otherwise incorporated into an article written by our team. If you need to be sure some information appears in our newspaper in a certain way or on a certain timeline, please consider our paid advertising options.

Columns and Letters

Do you have a perspective on an issue facing our community? Is there something you think Wayne County residents need to be aware of? We welcome your letters to the editor.

  • Please limit columns and letters to the editor to 300 words or less. In some cases where advance arrangements are made, we can accept longer editorial columns.
  • We do not accept anonymous submissions. We may need to verify your identity or follow up with questions; please include your name, full mailing address, phone number and email address (when available) in any submission. Only the name of the contributor and possibly their city and state will be published.
  • If your submission contains statements of fact, please make sure to cite verifiable, credible sources to back up the statement.
  • We support the role of constructive criticism in a healthy public life, but discourage submissions that are solely focused on complaining about something, especially when other options for resolution may exist. We cannot publish comments that are defamatory or libelous in nature.
  • We are not currently accepting fiction or poetry submissions.
  • We are generally not able to pay for column submissions.

Events

We try to publish events in our events calendar that are open to the public, free or reasonably accessible to all, of general interest to the community, and offering experiences or information that are non-commercial, fun, educational, connective and positive.

If your event fits with those criteria, please make sure to include in your submission:

  • the start date(s) and time(s)
  • the end date(s) and time(s)
  • the location including the specific street address and any parking information or directions
  • a brief description of the event and its target audience
  • what organization or individual is organizing or sponsoring the event
  • any cost, donation or registration information
  • contact information the public can use to find more details, including phone number, email and/or web address

We cannot accept a flyer PDF or social media sharing image about your event as your only submission; include the above as text in the body of your message.

We cannot publish every event we receive but do our best to highlight a mix of opportunities for area residents.

Other Guidelines

  • For photos included with a submission, please make sure you have permission for publication, provide the name of the photographer/source, and can provide the names of everyone included in a photo.
  • All submissions must be original and must not infringe the copyright of any third party. The copyright in all submissions remains with the author/submitter.
  • Please make sure submissions are spell-checked and edited for grammar. We may further edit submissions for clarity and space requirements.
  • Due to space limitations, we are not able to publicize most event or news submissions about regular worship services or other programs and staffing changes at churches and other religious organizations. If a one-time event or announcement is of general interest to the broader community, we may try to include it.

How to Submit

All submissions should be emailed to contact@westernwaynenews.com or submitted through our online contact form. (Submissions can be mailed or delivered to our office in Cambridge City, but may be deprioritized if significant time is required to re-type or scan items into an electronic format.)

Any text content should be included directly in the body of your email, and not as an attachment. Avoid formatting such as indents, tabs, etc, as it has to be removed in most cases.

For photos, please use the JPEG/JPG format. For submitting many photos, please use a file/image sharing service such as Dropbox or Google Drive, instead of email attachments.

For flyers or other images, we can accept PNG or PDF formats.