How to submit content

COLUMNS

The USA TODAY Opinion section publishes analysis, argument and essays on a wide variety of subjects. We're looking for timeliness (pegged to news), persuasion pitched to the other side, new information, novel arguments, revelatory insights, passion without partisanship, first-person experience, original reporting that reveals fresh angles and makes news, expert knowledge, and/or a topic that will drive conversation on social media and in the real world.

We accept only pieces that are submitted exclusively to USA TODAY. We do not accept material that has been published on blogs, social media or anywhere else.

Columns typically run 550 to 750 words. They should be pasted directly into an email and sent to theforum@usatoday.com. Pieces should include links (URLs, not headlines or footnotes) to back up quotes and factual material. People featured in columns must be identified by their real, full names.

We do not publish open letters, class projects or material that has been submitted to multiple outlets. Rebuttals to editorials and columns published in USA TODAY should be submitted as letters to the editor, not as full-length op-eds.

Due to the volume of submissions, we can’t respond to all columns sent to us. If our Opinion team is interested in yours, you will hear from us within three business days.

Submissions may be edited for accuracy, clarity, style, standards and length. 

Please include with your submission a short biography, two sentences at most, to run at the end of your column, as well as a current photograph, to which you own publishing rights. If you or a business, trade group or other institution with which you are associated stands to gain financially or in any other way from your column, you should disclose that information in detail. In most cases, it should also be included in the body of the piece or in the author's biographical information.

Columns are accepted for online publication; print publication is not guaranteed. All columns published by USA TODAY are available for use online and in print by the more than 250 properties in the USA TODAY Network. They include Austin; Bergen County, New Jersey; Burlington, Vermont; Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Des Moines; Detroit; El Paso, Texas; Indianapolis; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Milwaukee; Nashville, Tennessee; Phoenix, Reno, Nevada; Palm Beach, Florida; and Wilmington, Delaware.

Authors may post their columns elsewhere 48 hours after they are published at USA TODAY. By submitting a column to USA TODAY and agreeing to its publication, authors are granting exclusive rights to the piece to the USA TODAY Network for 48 hours and non-exclusive rights thereafter.

To get a sense of our range, preferences and requirements, check out our op-ed section, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or sign up for our daily Opinion newsletter.

COMMENTS AND LETTERS

If you're interested in joining conversations about topics in USA TODAY, email letters@usatoday.com, comment on Facebook or use #tellusatoday on Twitter.

Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length and to conform to our editorial style and standards. Submissions of 200 words or fewer have the best chance of being published. Letters must include a name, address and phone number.

Corrections to published letters or columns follow USA TODAY guidelines.