Pitching submissions are closed until 2024

What a year it has been! 2023 might be our best year yet in terms of what we have published on the website and we have so much more in store before the year ends.

As such, we are no longer accepting new pitches for this year as we plan our editorial focuses for 2024.

The only pitches we are considering are timely stories responding to current events happening in the news, politics, pop culture and what the timeline is talking about right now.

If you have a pitch that is relevant, check the pitching guidelines below and email [email protected] with subject 'URGENT: [Title of the pitch]'. (Any pitch that is not does not fall into this category will not receive a response.)

We wish all of our freelance community a wonderful holiday period, and we look forward to working with you again in January 2024.

We see Black Ballad as the ultimate modern media company. Beyond our content, we organise events, create community initiatives and work with brands and advertisers in a way that is true to us and never compromises our relationship with our audience. However, our editorial content is and will always be the heart and soul of this media company.

With that in mind, we are looking for content across text, video and audio that is original, engaging and impactful for our readers. With our platform being created for and powered by black women, we only commission those with the lived experience of being a black woman, black trans woman or black non-binary person to achieve our mission and vision and of course, we pay for all commissions as we respect and value the labour of our writers.

The ‘Do’s and ‘Don’t’s of Pitching To Black Ballad

• We’ve been publishing original writing since 2014, so do make sure you have a read of Black Ballad to know the kinds of articles we publish and what we have covered before.
• Do pitch fresh, innovative stories that the mainstream media would consider “niche”.
• Do think beyond “race” and consider the multi-faceted nuances of the experience of being black
• Do include original reporting by speaking to others who have the lived experience of being black, do include statistics and do include interviews with experts on the subject matter you are covering.
• Do give us five working days before chasing. Don’t pitch or chase pitches on our social media channels (the editorial team do not monitor them). If you don’t hear back or have a pitch refused, please do pitch again in future. It’s never personal.
• Don’t send fully-written articles as pitches. They will not be read or accepted under any circumstances.
• Don’t pitch through third parties (e.g. publicists or PRs), please pitch directly. It saves everyone’s time and makes the editorial process so much smoother.
• Don’t pitch or submit ghostwritten articles under any circumstances. If we have reason to believe that an article is being written by a third party, we will cancel the submission and will not accept any pitches in the future.

Commercial Partnerships

Black Ballad has a track record of successful partnerships across various sectors. For more information on ways that your brand or organisation can work with Black Ballad please email [email protected].