Contact Submissions and Publications
The Contact will publish every Wednesday. Content is due the Monday before. We invite you to continue to share your photos, stories, and more with us. Have a story idea? Please share it with us at editor@okumc.org.
Submission Standards
We love our contributors! We know that members and clergy of the UMC are the ones making a difference in the lives of Oklahomans with the good work you do - and we want to hear from you! We consider all of you to be the source and lifeblood of the news we share.
Though we by no means discourage anyone from making contributions, we must share with you our processes and standards.
Every item submitted is subject to editorial review.
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We edit each article for AP (Associated Press) style, and for “voice.” This just means that some language in the submitted article may be changed to make it read like a cohesive publication.
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Some stories are lacking sufficient information and may be run as photo-caption sets in our “Ministry in a Minute” or “Call to Action” sections.
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Some stories, though fabulous, may not be a good fit. This could be because the subject has recently been covered, or it could be that it doesn’t fit with our mission of encouraging connection and innovation through sharing the work of local churches, organizations, and ministries. Therefore, though rarely, we may decline to run a submission. In the event that you have news to share that doesn’t work for the Contact, we will try to advise you on how to get the word out in other ways (including possible advertisements).
We require every article to include two elements: Oklahoma and United Methodism. The Contact is an Oklahoma United Methodist publication, and that means it serves as a niche publication geared toward United Methodists in Oklahoma.
The Contact Weekly, though it has some similarities with a newsletter, is in fact a newspaper. This means we have a publication schedule and cannot always accommodate last-minute submissions. We do hold space for our conference leaders to share timely news and information, but we sometimes hold stories - especially those that aren’t time sensitive - until we have space for them. Our editor, with oversight from leadership, has editorial control over what goes into the publications.
Photos are an important part of the story!
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Photos are subject to copyright protection. If you submit an article, please be very clear on how you received the photo. Did you or someone you know take it? Please supply the name of the photographer, if available, so we can credit them. If a photo is part of a group of photos you’ve gathered from members of your group, we can always use “Submitted photo” as the caption. We must point out, however, that photos taken from the Internet are not considered submitted photos. If you google an image you’d like to include, please tell us so we can replace it with a similar image from our stock photo providers, which are paid subscriptions. Similarly, if you need an image for a project, please reach out to us.
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Photos should be submitted in their original format, as often as possible, in high resolution, as attachments. Please do not put photos into a Word document and then send the document. Word has a way of decreasing the size and resolution of photos and sometimes renders them unusable. When in doubt, please reach out to us. We can help with the process of sending photos.
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If you use photos of children or other vulnerable populations, please ensure you have a photo release on file. Additionally, if you need to obscure someone’s face in a photo, please send us the original photo along with either descriptions of those who need to be obscured, or a second photo that is marked up. We cannot use photos with emojis, cartoons, or other markings on them.
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Photos should be accompanied by captions. If you have a photo of a small group of people, it’s best to identify them by name (first names only for vulnerable populations). It’s always important to share the context of submitted photos.
When we find errors and omissions, we will make corrections in the live edition of the Contact and, if necessary (in the event of a harmful error), we will publish that correction in the next issue.
Other items of interest:
Employment listings
Our employment listings are now links to the live web page hosting jobs. If you have an employment listing, please send the basic information - job title, whether it’s full/part time, and how to apply/find more information. If you have a web page or job description, please send that along. We can link to it so job seekers can find out more. Listings are kept for 6 weeks or until you contact us to let us know the job is filled.
Save the Date
We would love to share every event in our conference. Unfortunately, that would make for a very confusing and jumbled calendar - you all do so much! Our policy for the conference calendar is that any dates should be for events/trainings hosted by conference ministries or district offices, and that they must be open to all.
Advertising
Some items may qualify as advertisements instead of stories. Please reach out to us if you have an advertisement. Our rates are very competitive, and our distribution has greatly increased since the Contact has become a weekly publication.