Write For Us

Thank you for your interest in answering our call for contributing writers. While most of our news is auto-posted or auto-queued, we’d like to have a fair balance of contributing writers. 

News departments

We are a 24/7 online news website seeking article contributors in any of our site categories:

• Local news involves stories in three regions: central and southern Illinois and the greater St. Louis metropolitan area.
• Illinois news involves stories happening throughout the entire state.
• Missouri news involves stories happening in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area with statehouse coverage from Jefferson City.
• National news involves stories happening throughout the entire U.S.
• World news involves stories happening worldwide.
• Politics/political news involves stories taking place at the local, county, state, Federal and international levels.
• Business & Lifestyle is a general category, which is broken down into several subcategories: Automotive, Business, Financial, Life & Style, Technology, Travel and Your Health.
• Sports news mostly involves collegiate and professional sports. Treat this category as if it was Bleacher Report, for example. As long as it’s in the U.S., we will also accept prep/high school sports story submissions.
• Entertainment news is also a general category, broken down into four subcategories: Entertainment, Films, Gaming and TV/Radio News.
• The Opinion section is split between Letters To The Editor (which you don’t have to contribute to) and Commentary (which you can contribute to). Commentary can be considered as an Editorial (normally published by a member of the Editorial Board), an Opinion-Editorial (op-ed, normally submitted by notable figures) or Commentary (also usually published by a member of the editorial board). We also have opinion columnists as well.

Other categories can be added upon the author’s request.

Contributor guidelines

• Prior writing experience is encouraged, but not required.
• You will need to register for an account. Upon confirmation, please set a profile picture through Gravatar and post a brief author bio.
• Article submissions should have at least 300 words. (In rare cases, we will allow news items that have less than this minimum threshold.)
• Appropriate photo credits and reference sources must be properly credited, with the exception of royalty-free content.
• All submissions must reflect green for SEO and the same for readability. This ensures our articles rank higher and are easier to read.

---

Editorial disclaimer

All submitted content is subject to editing and final approval. This is to ensure there is proper use of grammar, punctuation, syntax and sentence structure prior to publication.

Heartland Newsfeed, Heartland Internet Media Networks and Heartland Media Group of Central Illinois, LLC reserve the right to deny or refuse any article deemed unfit for publication. The editorial team reserves the right to edit content promoting advertising or solicitations to reach third-party individuals and organizations.

Statistics: Launch – December 15, 2024

• 5.75 million unique visitors
• 32.75 million site views
• Peak daily readership: 3,275 readers
• Alexa (World – Alexa Web End of Service): 226,084
• Alexa (U.S. – Alexa Web End of Service): 15,997

---

Publication and individual staff memberships

• Society of Professional Journalists
  • Jake Leonard (Student Membership)
  • Jake Leonard (Member, St. Louis SPJ Pro Chapter)
• Constitution First Amendment Press Association
  • Heartland Newsfeed
  • Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network
• National Association of Digital Broadcasters
  • Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network
• International Association of Internet Broadcasters
  • Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network
• League of Libertarian Journalists
• National Association for Media Literacy Education
• Online News Association
  • Jake Leonard (Student Membership)
• Illinois News Broadcasters Association
  • Jake Leonard (Voting Member)

Awards and honors

• 2023: Media Innovator Awards – Best News & Sports Content Broadcasters – Midwestern USA
• 2024: Media Innovator Awards – Best News & Sports Content Broadcasters – Midwestern USA

Media credentials

In some instances, when it comes to certain news items, you may need to request us to provide credentials that you are a writer or correspondent for Heartland Newsfeed.

In most cases, we can usually send a letter or email certifying you are reporting on our behalf. Others may require advance notification.

Active credentials

Illinois High School Association: We are listed on their media database with Media ID: 3326. We currently have seven extra passes for anyone wishing to cover Illinois high school sports. This also includes IHSA-sanctioned non-athletic extracurricular activities.

All Elite Wrestling: We have partial access to the wrestling organization, mostly in the form of photos. We are actively trying to get access to AEW press conferences. Prior notification would need to be given for media access to AEW Dynamite, AEW Rampage, and pay-per-views.

Ring of Honor Wrestling: We actively receive press releases from the PR firm representing the wrestling organization. Interviews are usually arranged through this agency, especially for annual ROH pay-per-view shows. Other media access is still being worked on.

Pool credentials

UFL: Primary coverage will be general league news and of the St. Louis Battlehawks. Press credentials are pooled between Heartland Newsfeed/Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network and Ambush Sports Network. Started in 2022 when the XFL and USFL were separate entities through the present post-merger era as the United Football League (UFL). 

Credentials in progress

Major League Soccer: Media credentials are already in place for St. Louis CITY SC and CITY 2. No response from the media team as of December 2024 regarding the Chicago Fire and its youth operations. That continues to be a work in progress.

Missouri State High School Activities Association: While we are listed as a media entity with the MSHSAA, we have yet to receive any media releases from the organization, moreorless anything from the schools in which we are tracking for high school athletics.