Your guide to submitting story pieces about art, music, entertainment, recreational activities, culture, collectives, and food.
WHO ARE WE?
Between 10and5 covers music, entertainment, food, online cultures, trends, subcultures, and nostalgia. We are big proponents of emerging artists and creatives, whether we’re celebrating good news like Thebe Magugu Takes Over Spotify Fashion Forward Playlist, speaking to you the creative In Conversation With Aviwe Apleni About Landing Video Ahead Of Release, or celebrating members of the creative community by gaining inspiration straight from the source Agency Insights from a Success Story that has been 12 Year in the making.
As a Creative Agency, we plug back into our community by partnering with brands and agencies on creative work that enables collaboration and possible expansion. Some of our favorite collaborations are Orbit Launches New Campaign #FindYourFreshLook, vida e caffè x Discovery Vitality limited edition sustainable bamboo cup design, and Stir Creativity With These Bombay Sapphire Gin Recipes.
We don’t just observe the culture, we are a part of it.
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
We’re currently accepting story submissions for one-off and recurring stories/content series. One-off stories should be reported and authoritative pieces about music, entertainment, or food; or timely cultural commentary that comes from a place of authority and expertise, not a baseless take. Pitches for recurring series, whether monthly or bi-monthly, should use the same format to interrogate or approach a different topic in each installment or clearly focus on the same topic each time.
Examples of recurring series:
- 10and5Creatives
- 5 Questions w/
- Self-Starters
- Inspirational Designs
- New Exhibition Alert
- Weekly Guide to Local Events
- 10AND5 Daily Picks
- Fresh Meat
- Young South Africa
- Creative Women
- #NowPlaying
Whether you’re pitching a one-off story or a recurring content series, we’re interested in ideas along the following topics.
- Fandoms and stan culture
- Influencer culture
- Unexplored elements of internet culture
- Music trends
- Deep dives on niche topics
- Extremely thorough investigations of extremely inconsequential things
- Highbrow treatment of lowbrow topics
- “Rabbit hole” stories, or stories that unravel longstanding or little-known mysteries
- Oral histories
- Unconventional approaches to mainstream topics
- Expert angles on mainstream topics
- Online cultures and subcultures (how existing subcultures, whether good or bad, are finding new ways to connect and communicate online)
- Tip-of-the-tongue trends (things that others have noticed but not identified, i.e., “AI Horror Story: Loab”)
- Food trends and cultural analyses that haven’t been identified elsewhere
WHO ARE WE NOT LOOKING FOR?
- Takes, i.e., uninformed and/or arbitrary opinion pieces that are not rooted in any kind of reporting or research (ethnographic research is allowed)
- Profiles and interviews (unless you have some kind of exclusive)
- Anniversary content (unless it’s an oral history or there’s an exclusive, “never-been-covered-before” element to the idea)
- Song or album premieres
- Anything that has already been covered elsewhere
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR STORY IDEAS TO US:
To give your idea the best chance of being considered, make sure your pitch includes all of the following:
- 1-2 rough headlines
- One or two lines explaining what the story is about
- A one-paragraph summary that lays out your approach to the story
- Any sources you’re going to talk to
- Any other relevant details (i.e., drafting timeline)
Story ideas should be sent to submissions@10and5.com with “STORY PITCH + [working title]:” in the subject line. If we like your idea and want to move forward with it, one of our team members will reach out with further instructions.
Your work is what keeps us going! If you’ve created something, you think is interesting, send it through.
