What are the guidelines for contributors?

We welcome contributions. There are no hard and fast rules; except for one, which is that the Evatt Foundation fully reserves the right to decide what it will publish. We aim to publish on the basis of quality and relevance. We particularly encourage contributions from members of the Evatt Foundation, to whom we will always give priority. If you are considering making a contribution, you might find the following advice helpful.

1. In addition to information about our own publications and events, the Foundation primarily aims to publish material that would be suitable for a magazine or journal. This site is not an online newspaper. We place a premium on crisp, lively contributions.

2. All contributions must be consistent with the Foundation's Statement of Purpose.

3. There are no necessary limits on the form of the contribution: news, scholarship, editorials, letters, opinion, reports, articles, essays, polemics, speech transcripts, conference talks, briefings, reviews, stories, humour or any and every other form of writing are potentially acceptable.

4. While contributors are often academics, you do not need to be an academic. Priority attention will always be given to contributions from Foundation's members, and we particularly welcome contributions from people associated with the labour movement.

5. While we endeavour to promptly advise contributors about whether we will publish their work, this isn't always possible. Please be patient.

6. If your contribution is accepted for publication, it will often be posted almost immediately. But sometimes it might be some time - sometimes weeks, occasionally a month or so - before it is posted. Please be patient. We will email you when it is posted.

7. Contributions may be edited to conform with the site's house style.

8. There aren't hard and fast rules about word length, and nor are there hard and fast rules about how your contribution will be formatted (although charts, tables and figures should be avoided). Broadly, if you peruse the site you will see that the following two styles tend to apply.

Firstly, for contributions of up to 1500 words, we use this large-style editorial font - which is easy to read on-screen - and place a lead on the home page under 'News'. The lead remains on the home page until the flow of items bumps it off, which may only be a few days (items of special significance or which prove to be especially popular are occasionally re-posted on the home page). Once an item has been bumped off the home page, it will still be able to be found under 'Evatt News' and 'More News'. If your work isn't mentioned on the home page, don't imagine that your contribution has exhausted, as the 'Evatt News' and 'More News' pages are among the most frequently visited on our site.

Secondly, for longer pieces - usually more than 1500 words, and rarely longer than 5000 words - we generally use a smaller font to avoid the appearance of long paragraphs and lengthy printing, and place a teaser or summary in Evatt News, which in turn leads to the full papers. All the longer papers will always be found via 'Papers'.

9. We would appreciate an illustration with your contribution, and advice of relevant links. The web is about sharing, and we are keen to refer readers to other relevant sites.

10. Your readers will not necessarily be specialists in your topic, so we hope that your contribution will be able to be easily read by that elusive person, the average educated citizen who wishes to understand and participate in public debate.

Thank you, good luck and best wishes.