Contribute a Pitch
We want to commission independent Dalit journalists, writers and researchers directly, for individual paid pieces, not through partnerships or syndication with other outlets. If you have a specific piece in mind, we want to hear it.
We also welcome pitches from Bahujan and Adivasi writers on the shared terrain where caste bears on both communities, such as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, land dispossession and exclusion from state power, written from your own standpoint rather than as a stand-in for a Dalit one.
Formats you can pitch
- Analysis: Reported argument connecting an event or pattern to its structural cause.
- Explainer: Scannable and background-forward, built for a reader with zero prior context.
- Opinion: Continuous prose, a strong personal argument, the byline itself is the standpoint.
- Testimonies: First-person testimony, in the writer's own voice.
- Data & Research: Numbers carried through a real narrative, community response represented alongside the data.
- Profile: One person, reported closely: their own voice balanced against the reporter's context and outside expertise.
- Backgrounder: The full history and systemic evolution of an ongoing issue: how we got here, not just what happened this week.
- Critical Review: A critic's verdict on art, film, literature, or culture, argued from a stated standpoint and specific evidence.
Testimonies stay in the writer's own voice. We edit them only for clarity, accuracy and safety; we never ghostwrite them or rewrite them into a different voice, and you approve the final version. See our coverage areas for the subjects we cover.
What makes a strong pitch
A strong pitch names the specific caste power at the centre of the story, rather than gesturing at "inequality" in general. Tell us:
- what the piece is about (a law, a decision, a place or an event) and why it matters now;
- whose experience it rests on: a community, the people affected, or your own account if it's a testimony. Describe them in general terms; don't send names or details of anyone who needs protecting;
- which format and coverage area it fits, roughly;
- who you are, in a few lines. Share your community or lived experience if you want us to know it; you don't have to name your caste, especially if that's unsafe;
- if you like, a link to something you've written. It doesn't have to be published, but don't link to anything confidential.
Every reported or analysis piece we run needs Dalit voices in it, including pieces by Bahujan and Adivasi writers on shared terrain. If that means interviewing people at risk, we'll agree how to protect them with you before you gather anything. We're not looking for pieces that treat caste as a footnote to a poverty or crime story, or that quote a Dalit person for texture while an institutional voice does the actual explaining. We're looking for the reverse.
Pitch your own idea, not one written for you by a tool. If a tool, including an AI tool, helped you research or draft, tell us what it did.
Safety and pseudonyms
If you're reporting on caste atrocities from inside India, you may face real risks. The Dalit Project is registered and operates in Australia. You can ask to publish under a pseudonym, or with no name at all. We'll agree the details with you before anything is drafted, not after.
Writing to us is a different matter: the form below is not anonymous. If being identified could put you or someone else at risk, keep your first message general, with no names, places or witness details, and read our advice for sources first. A pseudonym protects your name on the piece, but details in a story can still point to you, so we'll go through those with you too.
Payment and rights
Contributors are commissioned on a freelance, per-piece basis. We're a small, founder-funded outlet, and we're upfront about that. If we want to commission your piece, we'll agree these in writing before you start work for us:
- the fee, the currency, and when it's paid;
- the deadline and length;
- what you're paid for work already done if we cancel the piece after you've started (you will be paid for it);
- who owns the copyright, and how we and you can use the piece afterwards.
If you publish under a pseudonym, we'll talk through how to pay you in a way that keeps your real name away from the published piece.
We edit every piece. You'll see the edited version before it's published, and you can withdraw it if we can't agree on the changes.
How to pitch
Use the form below. A few sentences is enough to start a conversation; you don't need a finished draft. We aim to reply within two weeks. Pitching to us doesn't stop you offering the idea elsewhere; just tell us if another outlet takes it. We use AI tools to help sort pitches, and an editor makes every decision.