Leicester Gazette is looking for features writers to contribute to its local reporting. Whether you’re an established freelancer or a new writer, we welcome your stories about Leicester or Leicestershire.

What We’re Looking For

We’re currently commissioning for our December (winter) print edition, so get your pitches in early. We’re looking for unreported stories about marginalised, underrepresented and disadvantaged communities, individuals with lived experience. Most importantly, your stories must be about Leicester or Leicestershire.

We’re currently looking for freelance pitches in the following areas:

• Investigations
• Solutions-focused features
• News features
• Human-interest stories
• Interview-led features (profiles, Q&As, etc.)

Your story should be:

• About Leicester or Leicestershire – we’re a local newspaper.
• About people, communities, or neighbourhoods.
• Relevant and timely (but not breaking news).
• Accessible to everyone.

You should also:

• Challenge the status quo.
• Use original research and interviews.
• Highlight positivity and solutions to problems.
• Check if and how we have previously covered the topic at Leicester Gazette.

We pay £150 for 1,200 words.

Send your pitch via the form on the Leicester Gazette website.

About Leicester Gazette

The Leicester Gazette is a member-funded, community-owned news outlet about Leicestershire.

Our mission is to hold those in power accountable, push for change, and amplify the voices of marginalised communities while finding real solutions to the challenges we face.

We publish investigations, news features and human interest stories that go beyond the headlines. Our journalism is fact-based and rigorous, and we prize good writing over clickbait and sensationalism.