The Contemporary is a student-run startup publication that empowers collegiate journalists nationwide to report on critical issues in their communities. Our organization has collaborated with 35 colleges and universities to present unique long-form reports on critical issues in a variety of communities. We are a non-partisan organization that prioritizes creating a space for fact-based public discourse and civic engagement.
The Contemporary’s mission is to empower collegiate journalists to report on critical issues in their local communities. We hope to continue building a non-partisan platform that engages citizens from across the political spectrum in important dialogues about public affairs. We believe that students can help fill the gap in local and international coverage left by United States media outlets. For this reason, we empower collegiate journalists to report on the intersection between important long term trends in their communities. To implement our vision, we have competed for, and won venture funding from the Stumberg Entrepreneurship competition and raised funds from local community donors.
We have organized an event at San Antonio’s Pearl Stable that featured a distinguished panel on millennial civic engagement. During May 2017, we coordinated a campaign with Trinity University’s Alumni Relations and Development office that raised $5,000 which The Contemporary will use to expand and cultivate exceptional content. During the 2016 presidential election, we planned campus-wide debate watch parties moderated a live-streamed panel on election night with campus political leaders.
We publish outstanding journalistic pieces that are well reported, creative, and concise. We seek writers with interests in a variety of public affairs topics to pitch their story ideas to our editorial team. The ideal article combines strong reporting on a local issue that may also be important on the national level. Although it should be timely, the story should also have a perspective focused on broader themes and trends. Such articles can take many forms; our editorial team is open to any and all ideas submitted by student journalists. However, we are most interested in creative journalistic reports or opinion pieces that break news.
During Spring 2018, we are implementing a campaign to pay outstanding student journalists to report on the most pressing issues in their communities. If you are interested in pitching a story to us, please visit this page on our website.
