Submit an article

Anyone can send us a story, press release or photos. Follow these guidelines and your piece is ready to go straight onto the page, with less editing and a better chance of running the way you wrote it.

1. Write it

Most important facts first. Aim for the lengths below.
2. Format it

Word file, 10 pt Times New Roman, headline, byline, dateline.
3. Email it

One story per email to [email protected], photos attached.

Deadline: send it by 5 PM Friday to run in the following Friday’s paper.

What you can send

We cover Del Norte County. Here’s what we take and how long each usually runs.

News & community stories

Something that happened or is coming up: meetings, fundraisers, club news, local people doing interesting things.

250–650 words, or 350–450 with a photo

Press releases

Announcements from businesses, nonprofits, schools and agencies. Same format as a story, with a source line if you copied any text.

250–650 words

Sports

Game recaps, season previews and athlete profiles from Del Norte County teams.

400–500 words with one photo, or about 800 with two or three

Just a score? Report it here →

Features & profiles

Longer stories with photos. Check with us before you write one so we can save the space.

1,000–1,200 words with photos

History & looking back

Stories about Del Norte’s past. Cite where your information came from.

250–1,000 words

Letters to the editor

Your opinion on local issues, in your own words, with your name and town.

Keep it brief

Read recent letters →

Events for the calendar

Just need a date, time and place listed? Use the calendar form instead of writing a story.

Calendar listing

Add an event →

Want to write for us regularly? See Write for Us. Placing a legal notice? That’s Legal Advertising.

How long it should be

Most stories fit one of these sizes. Set in 10 pt Times New Roman, your Word file gives you a good idea of the space it will take.

⅛ page

No photo

250–300 words
¼ page

No photo

600–650 words
¼ page

With a photo

350–450 words
½ page

No photo

900–1,000 words
½ page

One or more photos

750–900 words
Feature

With photos, approved first

1,000–1,200 words

Sports stories fit best at 400–500 words with one photo, or about 800 words with two or three photos for a half page.

Formatting your story

The file

Send a Word file (.doc or .docx). Please don’t send PDFs.
Use Times New Roman, 10 pt, single spaced.
Name the file after the headline, or a keyword from it.

Headline

About 4 to 8 words.
Capitalize every word except articles (a, the), short prepositions (to, at, in, with) and conjunctions (and, but, or).

Byline

Two lines below the headline and two lines above the story.
By Your Name, or Story and photos by Your Name if you took the photos.

Dateline

Start the first line with the place, the state, (MPG), then a space, a dash and a space:

CRESCENT CITY, CA (MPG) -
DEL NORTE COUNTY, CA (MPG) -
SMITH RIVER, CA (MPG) -
KLAMATH, CA (MPG) -

Pick the place that best fits where your story happens.

Paragraphs and spacing

The first paragraph is never indented; it follows the dateline.
Indent every later paragraph with the Tab key, not the space bar.
No blank lines or extra space between paragraphs.
One space between sentences.

Sources

Copied five or more words in a row from somewhere without quoting and crediting it? Add a source line at the end.
Put it in italics on its own indented line: Source: Del Norte County Library
Not sure? Cite it.

The email

Put the headline (or its key words) in the subject line.
One story per email. Attach your photos to the same email as the story.
Need to change a story you already sent? Highlight the new text, email it again, then call us at 707-464-2141 so we catch the change.

Photos

Send high-resolution, in-focus, unedited photos (JPG or RAW), ideally 1–5 MB each. Bigger is fine.
Attach them to the same email as your story.
Name each file with the headline or its key words. If your captions number the photos, use the same numbers in the file names.
Add a photo credit (Photos by ___ or Photos courtesy of ___) at the bottom of your Word file.
Add a caption for each photo below the credit: who, where and what’s happening.

Don’t

Paste photos into the Word file.
Send stock photos from the internet or pictures copied from social media.
Send small, blurry or filtered images.

Style quick reference

How to write dates, numbers and the like.

	Write it like this	Not like this
Dates	January 1, 2026	Jan 1st, 1/1/26
Numbers	nine volunteers, 10 tables	9 volunteers, ten tables
Phone numbers	(707) 464-2141	707-464-2141
Times	1:30 pm to 5:00 pm	1:30PM–5
Decades	1900s, 60s, 70s	1900’s, 60’s
Websites	www.WebsiteAddress.com	https://websiteaddress.com/
Quotes	“I’ll be back.”	“I’ll be back”.
Quote in a quote	“And then he said, ‘I’ll be back.’”	“And then he said, “I’ll be back.””
Emphasis	gourmet tacos and crab cakes	Gourmet Tacos and Crab Cakes

Numbers: spell out one through nine, use numerals for 10 and up. Spell out a number that starts a sentence (unless it’s a year), or better, rewrite the sentence.
Periods and commas go inside the quote marks.
End every sentence with punctuation, even one that ends in a phone number or website.
Don’t capitalize for emphasis. Capitalize names of things only when they’re proper nouns. Trust your writing.
Use complete sentences. Two short sentences often beat one long one.

Before you send

Read your story with a critical eye and ear.

Does it cover who, what, when, where, why and (when it applies) how?
Is the most important information first? Write it as an upside-down pyramid, so if we trim from the end, it still makes sense.
Would it make sense to someone reading about this for the first time?
Have you fixed grammar and spelling mistakes?
Have you read it out loud? You’ll hear mistakes your eyes skip over.
Stuck? Put it away for a while, then read it again fresh.
Leave yourself time to edit so you don’t miss the deadline.

Example submission

Here’s how a finished Word file looks.

Volunteers Restore Trail at Beach Front Park

Story and photos by Jane Smith

CRESCENT CITY, CA (MPG) - More than 30 volunteers spent Saturday morning clearing brush and spreading gravel along the walking trail at Beach Front Park.

The work was organized by the Friends of the Park, who have adopted the trail for the coming year. “We had people from age seven to 87 out here,” said organizer Pat Lee.

The group meets the first Saturday of each month at 9:00 am. Call (707) 555-0123 or visit www.FriendsOfThePark.org to learn more.

Source: City of Crescent City

------------------------------------------------

Notes: Photos were taken Saturday, November 7. Organizer’s phone is for publication.

Photo credit: Jane Smith

Photo captions:

trail volunteers 1.jpg - Volunteers spread gravel near the park’s south entrance.

trail volunteers 2.jpg - Organizer Pat Lee, left, thanks the crew at the end of the day.

Headline, blank line, byline, blank line.
Dateline opens the first paragraph, which isn’t indented.
Later paragraphs are indented, with no blank lines between.
After a dashed line: notes, photo credit, then captions by file name.