Call for Submissions - Open City: Journalism on Asian Immigrant and Muslim Communities
The Margins seeks pitches and submissions to Open City, its journalism section devoted to chronicling the pulse of Asian America. Through articles, features, interviews, and profiles, Open City covers Asian immigrant and Muslim communities with an emphasis on social, racial, and gender justice issues.
Since its inception in 2010, Open City has told the lived stories of Asian communities in the boroughs of New York City. Starting in 2025, we are expanding our coverages to cities and towns all over the United States.
We welcome shoe-leather reporting, hybrid essays, personality and place profiles, features, narrative storytelling, and … you get the drift.
We pay all writers and translators. Please refer to our rate sheet for more details.
Send your pitch of no more than 500 words to Noel Pangilinan, senior editor, at opencity@aaww.org. Write “Pitch” or “Submission” in the email subject line. If you can, add a headline to the subject line. Kindly refrain from submitting multiple pitches.
All pitches should include a:
Short summary of your proposed story
Rationale for why this story is important and relevant to Asian American and Muslim American communities
Reporting plan and timeline
List of sources and/or references
Short bio
Links to clips
We encourage interested contributors to explore Open City for ideas on the kind of stories that we publish. Here are some examples:
Pieces with a strong sense of social justice. e.g., “What It’s Like to Live in the Country That’s Bombing Your Own” by Sumaya Awad
Pieces that depict the face, name, place, and heart of a community. e.g., “These Streets are Ours Too: Arab Women Rise” by Humera Afridi
Voice-driven stories. e.g., “A Stranger in Our Midst” by Chaya Babu
Pieces that focus on community issues. e.g., “Is This What We Consider a Good Education?” by Hannah Bae
Narrative-driven feature reportage. e.g., “We’re Not Just Protecting the Community, but Also Each Other” by Teresa Mathew
Oral histories. e.g., “We Were Not Allowed to Mourn” by Lylla Younes
Local histories. e.g., “The First Chinatown on the East Coast” by April Xu
Personal histories. e.g., “The Little Brown Brother’s Burden” by Vina Orden
First-person accounts. e.g., “From Prison Chaplain to Imprisoned Chaplain” by April Xu
Culture pieces. e.g., “Leftover Women” by Yichen Tu
Profiles. e.g., “Dragon Ladies” by Mike Hong
How-to features. e.g., “How to Start Your Family Roots Search” by River 瑩瑩 Dandelion
Background stories. e.g., “Six Years of Spying on Muslim Americans” by Sowmiya Ashok
Source: https://aaww.org/call-for-submissions-open-city/
