Become a Contributor
Want to see your name in print and get paid to create? For writers, photographers, artists and videographers, there’s a place for you at the Nugget — NAIT’s student news outlet.
We’re an award-winning student newspaper, and joining our team is an incredible way to meet people with similar interests, get better at writing or photography, or simply get your voice out there.
Student contributors (that’s you!) get paid per assignment — you can submit as often, or as little, as you like. We’ll pitch ideas every week, or you can share your own.
How does it work?
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- First, attend an in-person info session — register on Ooks Life
- Next, complete our asynchronous online training — we’ll add you
- Finally, join our Teams channel and you’re ready to contribute — it’s that easy!
Why get involved?
Aside from getting paid, sharing your voice and working with an award-winning student newspaper, there are tons of reasons to become a contributor.
GET RECOGNIZED
Your work for the Nugget won’t go unnoticed. You’ll have an author page on our website (hello portfolio building!), and our contributors are eligible for local and national student journalism awards each year.
CREATE COMMUNITY
As a contributor, you’ll join a community of likeminded people. We host social events, tutorials, and networking events regularly, giving you a chance to meet new friends and future mentors.
LEVEL UP
At the Nugget, you’ll learn the skills to improve yourself and your craft. We provide extensive feedback to all of our contributors, and you’ll have opportunities to try new things.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I do at the Nugget?
Write.
We publish a monthly print issue, and our website is updated weekly. That means we need content! We are a hyperlocal publication, so you can write about things happening at NAIT, to students, in our city, and so much more. As a Nugget writer, you’ll share important stories, amplify student voices, and make change on your campus!
Browse our sections:
Take photos.
Capturing campus life is another important part of the Nugget. As a Nugget photographer, you’ll attend events like Nest Fest, Ooks games, book swaps and more. Your photos will be featured on our website, our social media, and in our print issue.
Look through our photography section, or follow our photography IG account.
Create art.
Our monthly print issue needs artwork to accompany articles, grace the cover, or fill the creative corner. As a Nugget artist, you’ll help readers understand a new perspective, tell a funny visual story, or draw eyes in the halls with a standout cover.
Browse past Nugget art in our archives.
Do I need experience?
Contributing to the Nugget is competitive, and not every piece you submit will get accepted. But don’t let that scare you off — every contributor receives training, and we’ll do our best to work with you to make sure your pieces get published.
We expect you to have a basic understanding of the area you want to contribute in. For writers, you don’t need to know the ins and outs of writing for journalism, but you should feel confident putting together a concise sentence and telling a story. For photographers, you’ll need a basic understanding of how your camera works, framing and composition. And for artists, we’re expecting finished images with a high enough resolution that they look good in print.
You do NOT need to be a professional in any of these areas. If you have passion and a willingness to learn, you’ll be just fine.
What sort of stories will we write? What about photos?
The stories you write depend on the section you’re writing for—you can hop between sections or focus on one.
We prioritize content about the NAIT community, so most of what we write or take pictures of is related to the school or students in some way. However, there’s a lot of leeway to write about things that interest you. Students like movies, games, sports and a ton more! If you can connect it to students, we’ll probably let you cover it.
For photography, we’re primarily interested in covering campus life. You may attend an event, a how-to session, an Ooks game or a speaker session. Sometimes we need specific photos for an article, so we’ll ask for photos of the LRT, a particular area of NAIT, or somewhere in the city.
The art we publish is usually related to a specific article that we’ll send you. We also need covers for the print issues, which may be based on a concept or theme our editorial staff has picked. And sometimes, we post calls for fun doodles, graphics or comics for the creative corner section of our print issue!
And YES, please suggest your own ideas! We want to hear them. Seriously.
I’m bad at managing my time. Can you help?
Being a contributor is a fairly independent position, but your section editor will regularly check in to see how you are doing throughout the process. We’ll send you a reminder of the article you picked up, poke you if you’re past your deadline, and offer support where we see opportunities. It’s also okay to ask us for help! If you’re struggling to meet a deadline or don’t know where to take an article, drop by the Nugget office and chat to someone on our team.
I don’t think I can commit. Can I still participate or have my work published?
The only commitment required is the deadline assigned when you pick something up. We’ll typically give you around 10 days to write something and 2 weeks to draw something. Photos are due within 24 hours of the event you attend, though we’re flexible on deadlines for bigger events.
And, you get to decide how often you submit — there are no commitments requirements beyond that. If you want to write one article in a semester, great. If you would rather pick up weekly assignments, that works too!
What’s the masthead?
Masthead is a fancy term for the list of people at the top of a newspaper who are involved in the production of it.
At the Nugget, it’s a different type of contributing for writers and photographers where you get paid more but are expected to contribute regularly. You’re eligible for the masthead once you’ve had three pieces published. You do not need to join the masthead, but if you do, there are additional perks and requirements:
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- Writers must contribute 2 articles a month. Photographers must submit twice a month.
- Masthead contributors will have their name featured in every print issue, and their pieces will be prioritized for print.
- You’re paid $120/month, rather than paid by piece like regular contributors.
- Masthead writers and photographers are eligible for Nugget awards at the end of the year.
- You’ll also get some fun exclusive swag when you join!