NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS MAGAZINE
Submission Guidelines
Thank you for your interest in contributing to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS, a general-interest
nonfiction magazine for 6- to 14-year-olds published ten times a year. NG KIDS' tagline is: Dare to
Explore. It's our mission to find fresh ways to entertain children while educating
and exciting them about their world.
Submission Guidelines
What types of stories does NG KIDS publish?
NG KIDS stories cover a broad range of topics, including natural history, science, geography,
history, and human interest. For our departments, we are looking for animal anecdotes and cool
vacation ideas.
What kinds of proposals is NG KIDS looking for?
Although our staff generates most of our story ideas, we'd be delighted to receive queries from you
about unique stories that have kid appeal.
Here are things to consider before pitching to NG KIDS:
Geography, archaeology, paleontology, and history story suggestions must answer the question,
"What's fun about that?"
Science and technology story ideas must answer the questions, "How does this directly affect a
kid's life?" and "What's in it for a 10-year-old?"
Natural history story ideas must be tightly focused and exciting. For example: Don't pitch a
general story about cheetahs. Do pitch a story on how a cheetah's physical attributes make it the
ultimate hunting machine.
For "Amazing Animals," we're looking for animal stories that tell about unusual abilities, animal
heroes, friendships, or silly situations.
Entertainment story ideas must offer some behind-the-scenes perspective that is unusual and
informational.
How should one propose an idea?
NG KIDS does not accept unsolicited manuscripts, so a potential idea should be submitted only
through a query letter. A carefully considered query letter should be based on a well- researched
premise or hook. Do your homework and study recent issues of NG KIDS to
be sure that your idea has not already been covered within the last three years. (Another
good resource is the online NG KIDS index: publicationsindex.nationalgeographic.com.)
A good query is short and to the point (about 250 words). It should include a headline
that suggests what the story is, a deck that amplifies the headline, a strong lead, and a paragraph
that clearly sets out the premise and approach of the piece. The query should represent the style
in which the piece will be written. We look for a writing style that's informed but speaks the
reader's language and has a sense of humor. Tell us which area of the magazine your story fits
into. Please include clips that show a fun sense of style and tone, as well as a resume.
Once you have the perfect idea, here's who to pitch to on the NG KIDS staff. Science, space,
technology, environment, natural history, wildlife, geography,
paleontology: Science Editor Catherine Hughes, chughes@ngs.org
Human interest, "Amazing Animals," pets, entertainment, weird-and-wacky stuff,
cultural stories, archaeology, and history: Associate Editor Andrea Silen, asilen@ngs.org
Still not sure who to contact? Send queries to Editorial Assistant Bianca Bowman, bibowman@ngs.org,
who will forward it to the appropriate editor.
Any photographic queries should go to Photo Director Jay Sumner, jsumner@ngs.org. Queries by mail
should be sent to the appropriate editor at 1145 17th St. NW,
Washington, DC 20036.
Please note that we cannot accept phone queries or acknowledge or return any
submissions, whether sent by email or regular mail. All submissions become property of
the National Geographic Society, and rights therefore are transferred to the Society.
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