South Side Weekly Workshop Series: Pitching 101

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PEN America is thrilled to continue our partnership with the South Side Weekly with a series of hands-on journalism skills workshops this summer and fall.

How do you find stories to write about? How do you turn a vague idea into a pitch? In this workshop, you’ll get a step-by-step introduction to pitching journalism, from coming up with a strong idea to identifying appropriate outlets to emailing editors. You’ll also learn strategies for negotiating rates and networking.

Workshops are taught by Weekly editors or by guest professional journalists and are always free and open to the public.

Kim Bellware is a reporter, investigator, and connector. She’s interested in pulling stories closer to the audience by framing them in familiar, accessible ways so that topics like criminal justice, politics, and local government are relevant and responsive to the communities most affected by these policies. Her favorite stories, at their core, take a sharp but human look at where power lies (and doesn’t) and how those outcomes affect the way we live. She’s a 2019 Reporter in Residence at City Bureau and a freelance reporter covering a range of topics. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed, Chicago Magazine and other outlets.

Additional information this workshop series can be found here.