GENERAL

RelZim: The title of our publication (if referred to in the article) is RelZim or Religion in Zimbabwe

Links: embed links to the online sources into the text of your article or blog entry. The priority should be given to the references available on RelZim.

Titles for interviewees are used once at the beginning: Mr. James Mugwagwa – all other mentions of the name: Mugwagwa

Quotes: To introduce a quote, do not re-phrase what the person quoted said. Make your introduction short: “X said,” “X explained,” followed by a quote.  

 

PUNCTUATION

  • Full stop after titles: Mr., Dr. Rev., etc.
  • Numbers in thousands: 10,000
  • Positions in lower case: prophet, board member, church leader, police officer

 

PROFILE OF ARTICLES and COMPENSATION:

Any material published by that same author anywhere else needs to be discussed in advance.  If additional funds are needed for travel or rights to photographs, etc., that should also be discussed in advance. 

There is an infinite amount of material about religion in the world, especially the Christian scriptures and spirituality, which has other venues for publication.  RelZim is narrowly focused on localized information about the religious life of Zimbabweans (at home or in other countries).

Original news, feature article, event (250 – 500 published words): $15   —  “Original” means that the great majority of the article is based on the interviews and research of the author and no more than 25% of the article is paraphrasing of material already published (hard copy or electronically).  Articles over 250 words should preferably have at least two sources.

Long original news, feature article, event (500 – 800 published words): $20   — any article over 800 words should be discussed with the editor before submission.

Original note (little news item, update to previous story, background on event; 100-250 published words): $10 —  original material and still useful, but with only a single source, an article will often be of short length.  Several paragraphs of background material on events would also fit this category, unless the material is really just borrowed in which case it is considered “Second-hand content”.

Second-hand content (press release, monitored internet content):  $4 per piece of content —  Typically, we would take the content directly without a lot of revision and add a link to the original source in a sentence near the beginning.  Paraphrasing by RelZim does not add new value in itself.

Commentary piece (comment on news or events directly related to Religion in Zimbabwe): $10 —  commentary pieces are subjective in nature (they express the point of view of the author). They may quote original sources but do not need to. We do not publish theological notes, sermons or spiritual advice except in unusual situations where these mostly reflect on specific events or situations in Zimbabwe.  The usual test is “Could this commentary or opinion piece be published in Kenya or Germany?” — if so, then it probably has too little Zimbabwean content to qualify for RelZim.

Photograph (relevant and quality original photo): $10

Event announcement up to 75 words is considered a public service and is not compensated.