Winnipeg Police Cause Harm (WPCH) is devoted to sharing articles and personal essays that tell unique stories from across Canada related to defunding and abolishing carceral systems of policing, prisons, and migrant detention.

At this time, WPCH is operating on a minimal budget. As of February 19th, 2021, we can offer Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) contributors $50 for posts under 1000 words, and $100 for posts over 1000 words. We are actively working to raise funds to increase contributor payment.

What is WPCH looking for?

WPCH is generally open to many forms of writing, like investigative pieces, interviews, and personal essays. We publish pieces relating to policing, the legal system, and the prison industrial complex. We will publish blog posts of any length, though we encourage clear, concise pieces to promote accessibility. Blog posts do not have to centre around a news story; they can analyze systemic problems or share lived experiences.

We only publish original content and we heavily favour Canadian content.

To understand the kind of blog posts WPCH is looking for, check out our blog for previous posts to get a sense of our content. We are an abolitionist group and we are not interested in any writing that counters this ideology, so please don’t send us pitches on #BlueLivesMatter, police reforms like body cameras, or the like. In addition, make sure we haven’t already published an article similar to your pitch.

Pitching guidelines

WPCH accepts blog post pitches on an ongoing basis. Please send your pitch to blogwpch@gmail.com with the subject line “Blog Pitch—[Potential Headline].” In under 300 words, please provide us with a brief description of the post. Let us know your proposed word count, when you can get a draft to us, and if you plan to interview anyone.

We’re committed to publishing writers of colour, especially Black and Indigenous writers. If you are a writer of colour who wants more support in crafting a pitch or developing an angle for a blog post, feel free to email us at blogwpch@gmail.com.

Once you have sent in a pitch, you can expect to receive a response within 7-10 business days. We will strive to respond to you as quickly as possible, but we are a group of volunteers and sometimes life gets in the way. Feel free to send us a gentle reminder if you haven’t heard from us in two weeks.

If your pitch is accepted, we will finalize any details with you before agreeing on a deadline for draft submission. Should your piece require any structural changes, we will ensure you are notified. Grammatical edits will be completed by the WPCH team.